Mission Antarctica
by aviator6309
Summary: Sequel of "Prey and Prejudice", you need not reading it, but it would help-3 years after adopting the twins, they try living a normal family life, when the Secret Service approaches them. Together with top agent Jack Savage, our heroes will go to world's end to find out about dark plans of a wealthy tycoon when a certain cold case pops out yet again-cover art (C)2016 Greys-Giovana
1. Chapter 1 - Busy Life

**Chapter 1 – Busy Life**

Judy managed to wake up exactly three minutes before the alarm would have chimed. She felt hot, thanks to the two vulpine warming bottles, one in her back, one in her front. Carefully, in order not to wake up the twins, she reached out and switched the alarm clock off. She wiggled out of bed. As soon as she was gone, the twins started fidgeting and Judy shoved them together carefully so they could find comfort in each others arms. She waited silently until she was sure they were fast asleep again.

She took a shower, then sat down in her huge kitchen, fur still steaming. She just had a quick bowl of cereal. She finished eating and put on her uniform. At 6:10 am she saw the green light above the elevator blink. The express lift from the garage up to the 265th floor opened and Nick entered their luxury apartment.

"Hey, Carrots!", he said but his usual smirk could not betray the fact that he was quite tired.

Nick had worked three long shifts in a row. Life had become difficult for the two cops in order to assure that there was always someone there for the kids.

Nick opened a closet next to the elevator and punched in the five-digit code for the safe. He put his gun, his maze and his taser inside and locked the door. With guns and kids in the same apartment, safety was essential.

He embraced Judy and they shared some rare seconds of tenderness. Judy sniffed.

"You are smelling of cheetah…", she whispered between two kisses.

"No wonder, Carrots, I just spent eight hours in a car together with one… Officer Yarola and me were patrolling in the Rainforest District most of the night and you know how hot and humid the car gets even with the A/C on!"

Judy sighed, "I just wonder why you always get the beautiful feline recruits… I think I'll need to have a word with Kitty about it. My last recruits were a warthog and a porcupine."

Nick smirked, "Kitty knows that hero worshipping helps a lot in training… ouch!"

Judy had pulled his ear, "You're just a sleazy fox, admit it!", she grinned.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk to Kitty, making sure your next recruit will be a handsome tiger!"

Judy sighed again, "I seriously doubt that… I'll get my new recruit in…", she looked on her watch, "… forty-five minutes, so there is nothing you can do for me… Okay, schedule for today!"

Both got their smartphones out and stared on the screen.

"I have seven-to-six, so I'll be home at 6:30 pm…", started Judy, "You'll make breakfast for the twins and bring them to kindergarten at 8. I know you'll need to sleep, but I have some chores for you… you'll need to iron our uniforms, I'm wearing my last one today… and please clean up the kitchen and vacuum the kids' room… and you'll have to prepare dinner… no fastfood, no pizza, the kids have to get decent food once in a while, understood?"

"You want me to cook?", asked Nick.

"You got it, clever fox… don't give me that look, you are a good cook, I know it, you're just lazy… we have meat surrogate schnitzel in the fridge, but please, Nick, also cook some veggies as a sidedish… not only for me, but for the kids as well. It's healthy and they won't die eating vegetables here and there, carnivores or not."

Nick sighed, "Okay, dear…"

"You're the best!" She kissed him again, them jumped up and hopped to the safe to get her weapons out. She heard the creaking sound from the bedroom door and when she turned around she saw two red furry clouds darting from the bedroom door in Nick's arms.

"Daddy, daddy!", Keira and Leia yelled. The twins had just had their third birthday two weeks ago. Nick took them in his arms.

"Wow, you guys getting heavier each week… I hope you behaved last night!"

"Sure, dad, mom let us watch TV and we slept in your bed!", Keira said.

Nick gave Judy a strange look and Judy sighed, "It was an exception…"

"Strange", smirked Nick, "Everytime _I_ let the kids sleep in our bed, you call it a scandal and spoiling, but when _you_ do it, it's an exception!"

"Scandal, scandal!", chanted Leia, pressing her face against Nick's furry neck.

"Okay, my fault!", admitted Judy, "Now come, give mommy a kiss… I'll be back for dinner!"

The twins darted to Judy and crashed into her. Judy had problems to stand up against their power, they were foxes and even at three years they were nearly the same size and weight as Judy.

Two long fox's tongues attacked Judy's face. "No licking, no licking…", she squealed, but the kids just giggled. "Great…", Judy wiped fox saliva from her face fur, "behave, you two rascals. Bye, Nick!"

"Bye, Carrots!"

The elevator brought her down to the double parking space labelled "Mr & Mrs Wilde". The big blue family car with the two child seats stood there and the green pick-up truck Judy and Nick used mostly for driving to the ZPD. When Judy opened the door she noticed that Nick had already installed the adapter set that enabled her to drive this car that had been built for bigger animals. He was such a darling! She drove off to the ZPD.

The big briefing room on the ZPD's ground floor was nicknamed "bull pen". When Judy entered it at 6:58 am, it was nearly full but the small chair in the front row was still empty. Every officer knew that this chair belonged to Nick and Judy, the uneven pair, two of ZPD's most successful crime fighters. She was greeted with respect and she called most of the cops in this room her friends. It had not always been like that… Judy still remembered the first hard weeks in ZPD. Without Nick's help…

She sat down next to a white furry mountain. She hammered her fist into it.

"Good morning, Sigthor!"

The mountain turned around, revealing the grinning face of a polar bear, Sigthor Gudbrandsson.

"Hey, little furball, want to wrestle?"

"Sure, I'll take you on before breakfast!"

Gudbrandsson let out a howling laughter.

"Darling, you'll get stuck in my nose if I'd inhale deeply… so, I heard they assigned you a new rookie?"

"Yeah… I wonder who it might be…", Judy said and turned around, but all she saw were familiar faces. Her thoughts were interrupted by the banging of the door and the loud call "Atten-hut!"

Everyone stood up. Instead of Chief Bogo, Lieutenant Katherine "Kitty" MacMahon, Bogo's attractive assistant, entered the room. Her almond shaped blue eyes looked around and met the eyes of her female colleagues – the male's eyes were more focused on the lower part of Kitty where her short uniform skirt revealed a pair of tremendously long feline legs with shimmering fur that had been meticolously trimmed.

Judy received a warm smile from Kitty as the ex-model cat was not only a close friend but also the godmother of the twins. Kitty assigned the teams to the various regions of the big city and one pair of cops after the other stood up and left the bull pen. In the end, Kitty and Judy were alone in the room.

"I thought, I would get a new recruit today", Judy wondered.

"Yes, dear, you should, but she is not here… yet!", Kitty answered with a shrug.

"At least it's a 'she' this time…", Judy murmured.

Just when Judy was about to complain about the fact that Nick always got recruits for which he admittedly had a 'soft spot' – young female felines – the door slammed open and in stormed a character that had the word 'rookie' written all over her.

She was a badger, young and rather stout, she had hit the door so hard, she lost half of her gear.

When she saw Kitty with her two golden paw prints on her shoulder, marking her as a lieutenant, she immediately ripped her arm up to salute her, her eyes widened in panic.

"Off… officer Jenny Feltner, reporting for duty, sir! I mean… ma'am!"

"I am glad you could arrange it to honor us with your presence, officer!", Kitty replied, sweet as candy, "I must apologize, but we were so heartless to start our briefing precisely at 0700 without waiting for your highness!"

"Oh, yes, sir… ma'am, I am so sorry, but I took the wrong bus…", the badger stammered.

"You are lucky, Chief Bogo is meeting the mayor right now, he would not let you off so easily. Keep this in mind for the next days. This here", she pointed at Judy, "is Lieutenant Judy Wilde, she will be your partner for the next weeks. Try not to piss her off, she had killed bigger predators than you."

The badger stared open mouthed at Judy and Kitty just shook her head, "Good luck with _that_ one!", she said to Judy and marched out of the room.

Judy tried it with a smile, "Hey, Jenny, nice to meet you. Hope we will have a good time together!"

"I am so sorry, ma'am, I messed up on my first day… I bet, that cat is mad at me…"

"Okay, first, you call me Judy, second, she is not mad at you. The first day as a cop was difficult for all of us… before we go out, let's fix your belt…"

Judy pulled up the Jenny's utility belt.

"Okay, wear it really tight! Then move the baton in the back… the ammo pack goes here… and move your radio to the other side… the belt clip for the radio you got is good for nothing, use a rubber band or you'll lose the radio when you have to run… here, look, how I did it!"

She showed her the radio that was pressed tight to Judy's hip thanks to a rubber band.

"Here, I have a spare, you can use that… and the shoulder mike goes to the right shoulder!"

"But, ma… I mean, Judy, in academy they taught us to wear it left…"

"Yeah, they teach a lot of stuff… But the speak button is here and you can press it with your chin or your cheek when you wear it right… when you have to use your gun and need back-up, it's always good to have both hands free for the gun."

After three more minutes, Judy was satisfied.

"Now you look like a cop!"

She received a first shy smile from Jenny.

"Let's go, we'll pick a car and take a tour!"

It turned out that Jenny just moved to Zootopia three days ago and had quite a bad sense of orientation. Patiently, Judy let her drive to the different areas of Zootopia and explained a lot. At half past eleven, they stopped the car on a fast-food place to have lunch. Judy hoped that Jenny would losen up a bit during eating.

"So, Jenny, where are you from?"

The badger gave a shy smile, "You won't know that place, a small village named Coober Pedy, three hundred miles from here, in the mountains. Only 120 animals, half of them badgers."

"Yeah, I also come from a rural village, ever heard of Bunny Burrows? Man, I bet you have to tell your folks a lot when you visit them!"

Jenny's face turned into a grimace and her eyes got cold.

"I'll never set foot in this shit hole ever again, I promised that!", she said. Judy stared at her, surprised by the sudden outbreak. Tears were running from Jenny's eyes as she continued, "My parents were drunk all day, most of the population there is, there is no work, everyone is poor there and my family was poorest, and they all laughed at me at school for I hadn't decent clothes to wear and all I dreamed of was to join the police where everyone wears the same!" She slammed her fist against the wheel and Judy was glad they had decided to eat in the car and not in the restaurant.

Judy wanted to tell her that she was sorry, but there a moments when it's better not to say anything so she remained silent. The badger took a deep breath and wiped her eyes with her massive paws.

"Great…", she murmured, "I really have made a good first impression… I came too late… now I'm crying like a baby, pestering you with my sad story you're not interested in…"

"That's not true!", said Judy, "I _am_ interested, heck, you're my partner now. And I had similar problems on my first days here…"

"You?", Jenny snorted, "In academy, Drill Instructor Hartman told us literally every day what a hero you are; it was Judy this, Judy that, Judy went over this obstacle in half the time, couldn't you even beat a little bunny? They gave you a big case on your second day and you solved it after 48 hours!"

Judy sighed and had a bad feeling. She definetely would need to talk to the academy about this.

"And did Hartman tell you how I nearly drowned in the toilet while she sat next door taking a shit? And how she talked to me after my first week, telling me a meek little bunny like me would never make it and I should do everyone a favor and go home? And that Bogo assigned me to parking duty and I would still do that job today if I hadn't got the missing mammal case by sheer coincident?"

Jenny stared at her open mouthed, but Judy was not finished yet.

"And, yeah, let's not forget, I arrested the mayor on wrong accusations, putting the entire city in mayhem and nearly lost my best friend just because I was as prejudiced and biased as everyone else! And did they tell you I quit my job because of this?"

Now it was Judy who had to wipe the tears out of her eyes. Jenny said nothing for quite a while until both said "I'm sorry!" at the same time. Both giggled. The rest of the shift was much more comfortable for both of them as they were finally able to talk to each other at the same level.

"Okay, let's call it a day!", Judy said at 5:30 pm, "Should I drop you off at your place? Or do you live close by ZPD?"

"I have a small apartment in Ferocious Heights", Jenny said, "That's the only place I could afford."

Ferocious Heights was a small district between the Rainforest District and Meadowlands, famous only for it's criminal rate and poverty.

"If you like, I could call my old landlady from Great Pangolin Arms Apartments", Judy suggested, "They have small crammy apartments, too, but it's much closer to the ZPD and the area is not so bad… and the rents are cheap – I lived there, when I started out here."

"It would be great to have a place where they don't take hourly rates…", Jenny said, "Would you really do that?"

"Of course, partner!", Judy grinned.

Just in this moment, a red pick-up truck zoomed by. From the corner of her eye, Judy saw the driver, a rural looking bunny lady.

"Wow, that was fast!", Jenny said.

"Too fast…", Judy answered, "Keep close to her. Check out her car and tell me what you see."

"Okay… license plate is from Meadowlands, two letters, four numbers, so she's from the far North region, maybe Bunny Haven?"

"Good…", replied Judy, "you definetely did you homework…"

"And her insurance stamp was due last month, so she has no insurance!", Jenny said excited.

"Or she just forgot to put the new stamp on… most companies send them out automatically!"

"And her right brake light is not working!"

"Wow, I haven't even noticed, yet… okay, Jenny, that's enough, we'll pull her over and have a chat… just as we learned at the academy."

Judy switched on the lights and pressed the siren's button for two seconds. The bunny lady saw them, braked and pulled over. Jenny stayed right behind her. Judy opened the door as soon as the cars had stopped.

"Okay, Jenny, watch me, listen to me, stand right behind me and always one paw on your gun, okay?"

"Okay…", Jenny was nervous.

The car was a D-sized model, which made it easy for Judy to knock against the window. The lady opened.

"Good evening, officer!", she said in a high-pitched, friendly voice, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Good evening, ma'am… as a matter of fact you did. We'll talk about it in a sec, but first I would like to see your papers and license, please…"

With the papers, they walked back to the patrol car and checked it via datalink, but everything was okay. Judy went back.

"Mrs Hockstetter, this highway is limited to 65 mph and you have gone over 80… and you need a new insurance stamp!"

The bunny broke out in a nervous laughter, "Oh, damn, I have the letter from the insurance company here in my glove compartment… should I put the sticker on now?"

"No, ma'am, this is much too dangerous on a highway. Please do that at home. And your right brake light is not working, please fix this as soon as possible."

Judy started typing on her ticket machine. "As you showed me the letter, I will not fine you for the missing stamp, neither for the light. But please, repair it, you're endangering the animals behind you. For the speeding, however, I will have to charge you 25 Z$. Please sign the ticket here…", Judy reached inside the car to give the ticket to the lady.

"Here is the amount, here is my name and the ZPD phone number, just in case you have questions later on…"

The lady stared at the ticket. "Wilde?", she said, "Your name is Wilde?"

"Yeah!", Judy said.

"Aren't you that bunny that married a fox?"

Judy's body stiffened as she heard the anger and disgust in the other bunny's voice.

"Yes, that's me…"

"How could you… aren't there enough nice bucks around, to produce new kids and ensure the well-being of our race?"

Judy had met this type of animal before and what she said was no news to her, so she tried resolving the unpleasant situation with a dry joke.

"Well, I don't think we bunnies are close to extinction yet, and…"

The lady made a chortling noise and before Judy knew what was going on, she spat directly in Judy's face. Judy closed her eyes instinctively and felt something wet and hot hit her under her left eye. The engine of the car revved up and Judy heard her shout: "You are a disgrace for us bunnies, you dirty sodomic bitch! Feel the eternal purgatory next time you suck that cursed fox's cock!"

She drove off. Judy wiped her face and heard Jenny shout, "Quick, Judy, in the car! We can get her!"

"No, let her go", Judy said. She collected the ticket and two bills the woman had thrown out of the window. "At least, she payed her ticket!"

"But Judy, she insulted you, she even spat at you! We could get her for this…", Jenny screamed, but without another word Judy got back in the car and closed the door. Jenny stood helplessly outside before she climbed back in the driver's seat.

"What would it change?", Judy asked quietly, "Do you think she will ever change her mind about me? Not as I care… I've met hundreds of animals like her, some may only think the stuff she spoke out loud, others think I'm just a mislead dumb bunny…"

"But we have her on camera…"

"Good thing you reminded me…", Judy opened the cover of the camera and took out the storage chip.

"Oops, Jenny, looks like we forgot to put a chip in the camera this morning… silly me."

She gave Jenny the money and the ticket.

"She… she hasn't signed…", Jenny said hesitantly, "Now we need to fill out form 87-B and…"

Judy took out her pen and scribbled an illegible signature on the ticket.

"Let's go to your place… I'll bring back the car! And no word to anyone about that stupid cunt.", Judy said.

Silently they drove on, both of them lost in their thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2 - Code Five Fifty-Five

**Chapter 2 – Code Five Fifty-Five**

When Judy came home she went directly under the shower, while Nick was finalizing dinner in the kitchen. Even though they had a large dining room, they preferred to eat at the much smaller table in here. Nick had cleaned up the entire place, even the kitchen looked neat and tidy. He took a steaming casserole out of the oven while Judy, already in her pajamas, played on the floor with the twins. In the frying pan, the pred food was sizzling. Judy had gotten used to the smell of the meat surrogate made out of insects.

"You look great in an apron, did you know that?", Judy said.

"You just say that because I made your favorite carrot-broccoli gratin!", he replied smirking. They would both have this night off, it was the first time in a week that they had some hours together.

Nick put some of the veggies on each plate of the twins. Keira started making retching noises and Leia giggled.

"Keira, stop doing it – veggies are good for you, you'll get big and strong!", Judy reprimanded her.

"Like you?", Keira answered with a frown.

"Careful, young lady!", Nick said, "You know very well that you'll get much bigger than your mom, but she is right, so do what she says!"

Keira rolled her eyes, but Judy overlooked it. When the kids got their 'meat' on the plate, they started to dig in like there was no tomorrow. Nick and Judy had to remind them several times to eat the veggies, too.

Finally, the kids were through and after the usual mayhem while putting on pajamas, brushing teeth and having a final glass of water and a bed time story and another bed time story and another final glass of water and the announcement that they need to go to the bathroom once again, Keira and Leia were sound asleep at half past eight.

"So, how is your new partner?", Nick asked.

"Well, she's okay, I guess… had a hard childhood… she will need some time, but I think she's gonna be a good cop."

Judy had decided not to tell him about Mrs Hockstetter.

Both took out their phones to discuss the schedule for tomorrow.

"You're on from 7 to 3", Judy said, "so you'll have to get the kids after kindergarten. Don't forget, they close at 4 and Miss Nolan will be on our necks when we're late again. I'll be in the office tomorrow, from 9 to 5… so, I'll finally get all the paperwork done."

Nick sighed, "I haven't been on office duty for ten days now, so all the stuff from my patrols are still open…"

"Hey, I could help you… this is, if all your stuff is neatly stacked on your desk!"

Nick smirked, "There may be some discussion about the definition of 'neatly', but yes, it's all on my desk. You're the best, honey bunny!"

He put his long arms around her and started to playfully kiss her ears. When they started a game of tongue wrestling, they suddenly got interrupted by some smooching sound effects made by Leia and vomiting sounds by Keira.

"What are you guys doing out of bed? Wait 'til I got you!", Nick jumped behind them and the twins screamed and laughed. It took Nick the better part of 15 minutes to put them back in bed.

"So, where have we stopped?", Nick smirked when he finally was back.

"You wanted to take me to bed, too… and I want a bedtime story!", giggled Judy.

"Okay, today's story is 'What the big bad fox does when the lights are out'… rated PG!"

Judy never found out what the big bad fox used to do, as ten minutes later both were sound asleep in each other's arms.

Judy got up at 6:45 am. On her way to the bathroom she noticed to her surprise that Nick still sat in the kitchen reading the morning paper.

"Nick! You need to go, your briefing starts in fifteen!", she said.

"Good morning to you, too, fluff butt. Don't worry, Kitty allowed me to skip the briefing. Ember will pick me up in half an hour, so we can have breakfast together!", Nick said.

"That's great!"

She showered, woke up the kids and dressed them.

"Okay, you little rascals, what do you want to have for breakfast? Anything but…"

"Snompies, Snompies, Snompies!", both kids yelled.

"Oh, please, that stuff is so disgusting…", Judy pleaded, but she knew she was on the losing site here.

"Come one, Carrots, they love that stuff. And it's full of vitamins and proteins and stuff", Nick got out a large box with a dancing cartoon snail on it.

"Yeah…", Judy said, "… and stuff…"

Nick poured the snails in his and the kids' bowls and all three tuck in immediately. The cracking sound of the snail houses bursting between the teeth of the kids made Judy's stomach somersaulting.

"Keira, Leia, at least close your mouths…", pleaded Judy.

That was the signal for Keira to open her mouth extra wide.

"Look, mom, I can squeeze it through me teeth!", she shouted excited and the green-brownish slimey goo squished out and landed on her dress, pulling a long thread dangling out of her mouth.

"Great, Keira, I just washed that dress!", Judy scorned.

"No prob, mom, look…", Keira made a slurping noise and the entire mess was sucked inside her mouth again, "See? All gone!"

"Urgh…", Judy got up from the table when the door chime went off. Nick reached for the phone.

"Mornin' partner. I still need five for breakfast, just come up!", he said and pressed the button that would grant his partner access to the elevator.

As soon as the door opened, the twins yelled "Ember, Ember!" and run over to the cheetah that just had entered the apartment. One snail used the opportunity to crawl out of Leia's bowl leaving a slimy trail on Judy's table.

Officer Ember Yarola had seen the kids only twice before but won their hearts instantly with her charming laughter she had an endless supply of.

"Morning Judy!", she yelled, "Morning, partner! Hey, you two little cuties!"

The slender figure took the two fox cubs in her long thin arms and threw them in the air without any effort.

"Weee!", the twins yelled.

"Geez, guys, looks like you have grown again in the last two days!", Ember put them on the floor again and sat down next to Judy.

"Oh, cool, Snompies!", she said and grabbed the escaped snail. Right next to Judy's already green-tinted face, she cracked the shell between her long fingers and sucked the slimy content out of it. Then she threw the shell in her mouth, chewing loudly.

"Man, I loved them when I was a kitten!", she said munching, "Judy, you don't look good. You work too hard!", she said sympathetically.

Judy jumped up and vanished in the bathroom, "Predators!", she grunted.

"Did I said something wrong?", Ember asked.

"Nah, you know these veggie-eaters!", Nick smirked.

"I heard that!", yelled Judy from the bathroom, "I won't come out until the last snail has vanished from my table!"

Finally, when Nick had taken his weapons out of the safe and kissed his girls good bye, Judy came out again.

"We're on highway duty today. Ember will drop me off here, so I have no problems fetching the kids in time! Hey, what about a good long good-bye kiss?", he asked.

"I pass", said Judy thinking of all the slime that has been in Nick's mouth seconds ago.

"Bye, Ember! Take good care of him, will you?"

Ember let out her contagious laugh, "I will, bye, Judy! Bye, girls!"

It was 3:30 pm and Nick was in big trouble. To avoid an accident, a huge truck had gone over the median and now the trailer got stuck in the ditch. The truck was standing on three of the four lanes. Highway 5 was full at this time of the day as it was one of the most important routes through Zootopia. Ember was standing on the road, trying to direct the cars from all four lanes to the outer right one, but the cars passed slowly, some animals wanted to take a good look at the truck, but most of them preferred a good look at the well proportioned cheetah, her uniform clinging tightly to her perfect body, thanks to the rain that had started one hour ago.

The tow truck had arrived ten minutes ago, but the elephant driver had not yet extended the hook, but had an intensive chat with the driver of the truck, a grizzly, instead.

Nick saw his end of shift far away. He needed to pick up the twins from kindergarten at four at the latest. He could still make it, but things must speed up here.

The second patrol car at the scene was no help, officers Gudbrandsson and Voronez had retreated in their huge patrol car, seemingly the polar bear and the mountain lion wanted to keep a dry fur.

Nick had to yell twice before the elephant and the grizzly noticed him.

"Hey, guys! What's the problem?"

The elephant looked down on the tiny fox.

"I'll tell you what's wrong, that damn thing is too heavy! The truck is full with iron ore, the trailer alone weighs more than 50 tons, my truck could never pull it out of all the mud."

"We need to get the highway free in thirty minutes!"

"Hah! Dream on, officer fox, we'll need a crane and it will take at least fifty minutes until it's here! And then you need to close the last lane, too, as it will need all the space to pull this baby out of that ditch!"

"Fuck!", Nick cursed.

From the inside of their warm car, Gudbrandsson and Voronez watched the nervous fox running up and down.

"Look, he's checking his watch again…", grinned Voronez.

"Yeah, it's a five fifty-five, if I ever saw one!", confirmed Gudbrandsson, "He'll come here every minute now, wanna bet?"

"Nah, too obvious!"

Nick walked over to check if his partner needed any help. The traffic flow had now stopped completely as a dented old pick-up truck, filled with three wolves had stopped directly at the bottleneck. Ember blew her whistle and shouted, "Hey, what are you looking at? Get moving!"

The driver yelled back, "We look at your pretty legs, pussycat!"

"Yeah, why don't you come in here, we'll rub you dry 'til you start to purr!", said his friend.

The third wolf in the back let out a load "Meow!" and all three started their howling laughter.

Ember roared, "Move your ass!"

"Oh, I will… but only against yours, sweetie!", said the driver again.

Ember got out her baton and hammered it against the driver's mirror that dissolved into a shower of glass and plastic shards.

"Hey!", yelled the driver, "Are you insane, stupid bitch?"

"I think, your windscreen's broken, too!", said Ember and lifted her baton again.

"Fuck, drive on, drive on!", yelled the second wolf and in a black cloud of burned rubber the car swerved on.

Nick shook his wet head, "From 'sweetie' to 'stupid bitch' in two seconds, that's a new record! I'm so glad they taught you deescalation at the academy!", he grinned.

"Hey, I deescalated the situation, didn't I?", Ember replied swinging her baton, "Nick, when will they finally move that stupid truck away? I'm soaked to the bones!"

"It will take quite some time, dear, they need to get a crane!", Nick replied shrugging.

"Hey you, stop flirting and do your job, I want to get home!", yelled a sheep out of his car.

"Yeah, tell me about it!", said Nick and checked his watch again. 3.45 pm. He had no chance. He walked over to the other patrol car and knocked at the window.

"Hey, Sigthor, can you do me a favor?"

"You want me to go five fifty-five?", replied the polar bear.

"You got me."

"Forget it, Nick, do it yourself, it's your problem!"

"Hey, Sigthor, you know how it looks when I am calling…", Nick pleaded, "You owe me one, I never told Bogo who switched on the light during that razzia in Little Italy, did I?"

Gudbrandsson sighed, "Okay, okay, I do it, sly fox…"

Chief Bogo was in the middle of producing a presentation for the city council, but had severe problems concentrating. His assistant, a certain cat, sat at her desk in their shared office and typed on her keyboard. She seemed to be in a good mood, she had ear plugs in and her legs were moving back and forth to the rhythym. After Bogo caught himself several times staring on these legs, he cleared his throat and got up. He needed a break. As soon as he stood, Kitty pulled the plugs out of her ear.

"Do you need anything, Chief?", she asked with her pleasant dark voice.

"No, MacMahon… I just get me a coffee…"

"Oh, sir, I can make you one…", she said giving him a glowing look out of her blue eyes. Bogo had to clear his throat again when he felt her look all over his hide.

"No, thanks…", he just mumbled and left.

Kitty looked after him. He had cleared his throat quite a lot… maybe he caught a cold? Kitty decided to make him a big mug full of tea with honey. Yes, that would be good!

Bogo had not taken a coffee but wandered aimlessly through the ZPD corridors, taking one deep breath after the other. Whenever she gave him this look, something happened inside… he entered the dispatch room. The time when he could let Clawhauser do all the radio traffic were long over, nowadays four officers were coordinating the patrol cars in four sectors.

He overheard the raspy voice of Sigthor Gudbrandsson on the radio.

"… I say again, we have a code five fifty-five here…"

Bogo raised his eyebrow, curious what the operator, a raccoon, would answer.

The operator had noticed Bogo behind him and turned around, looking anxiously.

"What are you waiting for?", asked Bogo, "Don't tell me, you don't know what a five fifty-five is!"

"Of course, sir!", the raccoon said and turned to the ferret at the next table.

"Call out a five fifty-five!", he ordered.

The ferret, responsible for Sahara Square and Savanna, nodded. "All stations, we have a five fifty-five – _again_ … who's closest to 23rd and Pack Street?"

Interested, Bogo listened as he heard the answer, "Unit 43, we are only twelve blocks away, we'll take it!"

Unit 43 was Fangmeyer and Wolfowitz, those good-for-nothing wolf cops. Bogo noticed, that everyone in the room stared at him.

"Did I have something on my face?", he roared.

"No, sir…"

"Hmph…", he marched out of the dispatch room and returned into his office. When Kitty returned five minutes later with a steaming mug, she found him sitting at his desk, glasses on his nose, flipping pages in a book titled 'Radio codes'.

"Sir, I made you a mug of tea with honey…", she purred, but he didn't even looked up and pointed on his desk.

"Thanks, Kitty…", he only called her Kitty when he was distracted, "… do you happen to know what a code five fifty-five means?", he asked her.

Kitty gasped, "Erm… sir, I think, it's…"

He looked up, "Yes?"

She shook her pretty head, "No, I think, I don't know that…"

"Hmph." He turned around and looked at the large city map on the wall behind his desk, "What's on 23rd and Pack?", he asked.

"I don't know, sir…", she lied.

"Strange…" He sat down and started to look at his flatscreen again, "I've been out of regular duty too long…", he murmured and Kitty was glad when he started working on his presentation again.

Miss Nolan, head of the Rainbow Day Care, located at the intersection of Pack Street with 23rd Avenue, walked up and down. Being a squirrel, her walking was more running. Behind her stood the two fox twins, hand in hand, ready for being picked up. Miss Nolan checked her tiny wrist watch again: 3:58 pm. Even though she was much smaller than most of the kids she cared for, her authority was undisputed. But she was also playful and funny and the kids loved her as much as she loved 'her' kids. Even Keira, the wilder one of the twins tried her best to stay in Miss Nolan's good book.

She had been sad and furious when she heard from Nick and Judy that a lot of day care facilities had rejected the twins because they lived in a pred-prey patchwork family. Miss Nolan thought very positively of the way Nick and Judy were handling the kids. But right now…

"If your father's late again…", she started, but then her tiny ears twitched as she heard a siren in the distance, coming closer.

"Oh no…", she said, "don't tell me he is coming directly from work…"

Ten seconds later, a patrol car came shooting around the corner, burning rubber, coming to a skidding halt just one inch before the nose of the shocked Miss Nolan. The window opened and a huge wolf's head poked out.

"Hey cuties! Need a ride?"

"Yay!", yelled the twins, "Jasper and Bernie!"

Suddenly, a red flash zoomed into the open window and directly in front of Officer Jasper Fangmeyer's long snout.

"ARE – YOU – INSANE?", Miss Nolan shouted in his face, "This is a 15 mph zone, directly in front of a kindergarten! How dare you violating every traffic rule and endangering the kids here? Where is Mr Wilde? His wife told me he will pick up the kids!"

"Hey, don't shout at me, I'm not deaf, you know?", said Fangmeyer, "Wilde got stuck, there is an accident on highway 5 and he sent us, so stuff your bushy tail in it, will you? And we obeyed the traffic rules 'coz our lights are on and that means, we don't need to follow no rules, correct, girls?", he grinned to the twins.

"Yes, alarm ride, alarm ride!", yelled Leia.

To Miss Nolan's horror, the wolf lifted both girls through the window and sat them on his lap.

"You don't have a proper child seat! And what about seat belts? When there is an accident…", she raged.

"Calm down, Squeeky, we don't have accidents, we are the police, they call _us_ when _others_ have accidents!", Wolfowitz said from the driver's seat. Then he said to Keira, "Our record from here to the ZPD's eight minutes. You think, we can beat that today?"

"Sure!", Keira said, "I'll press the siren button!"

"Not fair!", yelled Leia, "You did it last time!"

"No, Leia, you'll do the speaker!", said Fangmeyer and gave the mike in the girl's paws.

Leia pressed the button and yelled, "OUT OF THE WAY, YOU SLUGS!" and her amplified voice vibrated through the street, producing echos. Miss Nolan fell out of the window and landed on all fours on the street.

"IF YOU CALL ME SQUEEKY ONCE MORE, I'LL…", she screamed, but Keira had already pressed the siren button and the car was gone, leaving a black cloud of burned rubber.

"Wolves!", Miss Nolan hissed, "I'll definetely call someone for this…"

It was 4:50 pm when Nick finally arrived at the ZPD. Clawhauser gave him a broad smile.

"The twins are at…", he started.

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear them!", Nick interrupted him, as loud laughter and onomatopoeic sound effects of a siren came from the general direction of Judy's and Nick's office.

He opened the door and grimaced as he received a sound overload for his sensible ears.

The twins yelled "Weeee-hooo, weeee-hooo" and ran to him while Judy shouted at Fangmeyer and Wolfowitz.

"… and I can't believe you let them hold your gun! I do sincerely hope you took out the ammo before!"

Fangmeyer murmured, "Where's the fun in holding an empty gun?"

Nick kissed the twins and Keira said, "Dad, new record! Seven minutes, forty seconds! I did the siren! Weee-hooo!"

"And I was on the speaker!", yelled Leia, her eyes full of excitement, "CHANGE LANE, LAZY BITCH!"

"LEIA!", Judy yelled at the top of her lungs, "I never want to hear that word again out of your mouth, young lady!"

"What, lazy?", Leia asked innocently.

"No, b…. the other one!"

"I won't!", she said, but whispering so low only Nick got it, she added, "… let _you_ hear it."

"Nick, how could you!", Judy hissed.

"Hey, cotton tail, it's not my fault, there was that accident…"

"I know, that's not what I meant! How could you sent these two clowns to pick up the girls!"

"I didn't! Dispatch sent them! I issued a five fifty-five and…"

"… we were the closest!", Fangmeyer continued.

Judy dropped back in her chair, "A five-what? I can't believe it! You misused dispatch for arranging private matters! What if Bogo finds out?"

"If I find out _what_?", came a very low voice from the door. The massive figure of the water buffalo had appeared in the open door out of nothing.

"Chief on deck! Atten-hut!", Keira shouted and gave a salute, her sister followed suit, but changed from left arm to right after looking at her sister.

The slightest smile ran over Bogo's face as he responded the salute of his two goddaughters.

"At ease, officers!"

Fangmeyer and Wolfowitz used the opportunity to squeeze past their boss with a quick, "Sorry, chief, we're busy!"

"I hope so!", Bogo yelled after them, "What's going on here? I just received a call of the Rainbow Day Care, a Miss Whatsherface yelled at me and complained about 'inappropriate behaviour' of two cops picking up these two rascals here! Somehow I can't imagine she meant you two!"

"Sir, I can explain…", Nick started, but he was saved by Keira who pulled on Chief Bogo's pants.

"Hey, Chief", she said. Even the twins called him chief. "You've promised to get us badges – real ones!"

"Yeah", Leia piped, "Not these boooooring stickers mom gave us!"

"Every kid knows there are no 'Junior Officers' in ZPD!", continued Keira, "We want real ones!"

Bogo grinned, "Well, it's easy to get one – as soon as you are of age, enlist at Police Academy and after you passed all the tests they give you one – for free!"

"Not funny!", Keira stamped on the floor, both paws on her hips, "We want one _now_! And you promised!"

"I see what I can do, honey!", Bogo sighed, then he looked up to Nick and Judy, "And you two – in my office, tomorrow 10 am!"

Nick said, "Sir, if it's because of that five fifty-five incident, Judy had nothing…"

Bogo raised an eyebrow, "No, I want to talk about _work_ , for a change! But I have not forgotten that other issue, don't you worry… we'll have a nice chat about it – later!"

He slammed the door and marched back in his office, murmuring, "As soon as I have found out what a five fifty-five is!"


	3. Chapter 3 - A New Player

_[Sorry for not posting for such a long time… my boss drowned me in work, I simply had no time. The next chapter will be quicker, promised!]_

 **Chapter 3 – A New Player**

At 10 am precisely, Judy and Nick sat in Bogo's office.

"Do you recall the Jiggler's Gang incident from last year?", Bogo started.

Both nodded. It had been one of the biggest scandals in police history. For months, more than twenty undercover cops had infiltrated a group of weapon smugglers, known as Jiggler's Gang. More than 200,000 Z$ had been spent on weapons deals to gain confidence of the group. Unfortunately, the Secret Service had also investigated and also used undercover agents, and when the entire thing blew up, it turned out that there hadn't been a single criminal in that gang – all were either ZPD cops or Secret Service agents.

What followed was an embarrassing investigation and it hadn't even been possible to find out if there ever _was_ a real smuggler in that gang. Millions of tax dollars had been burned invane. And even worse, a lot of illegal weapons had been put on the streets. Judy and Nick had not been part of that operation, but of course they had heard about it.

"I had to endure a series of talks with our mayor and I can tell you, she was NOT pleased. She did neither know about our operation nor about the Secret Service's. She demands better cooperation. I can tell you, I was not very happy about it, but I had no arguments and neither had D, the chief of the Secret Service."

"D?", Nick asked.

"Yeah, you know these agent stuff, they all have false names or just letters, like in 'Cats in Black'. I think it's ridiculous, but there you have it. This guy, D, a scotch terrier, is rather nice. At least he was not trying to put all the blame on us. We both had to give a written statement to Mayor Sigurðardóttir, to inform each other about all operations that could be of any concern. _And_ we will start a training program. An experienced special agent will join us today to train a selected few of 15 officers."

Bogo checked his watch.

"He is late. However, you two are of course included in the team. You will serve as our point of contact to Agent Savage."

Judy jumped off her chair, "Savage?", she gasped, "Do you mean Jack Savage, the famous agent?"

Bogo looked displeased at her outburst, but nodded, "Yes, I think that's his full name."

Nick smirked, "Isn't this a contradiction – a famous secret agent?"

But Judy was much too excited to notice Nick's irony, "Nick, he is awesome! He has saved our society from evil organizations several times! And he is a bunny! If only half the stories I've heard are true…"

"… which I seriously doubt!", added Nick who didn't like at all the sparkling in Judy's eyes.

The door opened and Kitty's head appeared, "Chief, your visitor has arrived!", she announced.

Bogo nodded and took off his glasses, "Well, no matter how 'awesome' he is, his punctuality has room for improvement. But better late than never!"

Nick would have contradicted, but in this moment, Jack Savage entered the room. Nick didn't liked him on first glance, a feeling that even deepened when he heard Judy inhale deeply, full of excitement.

"Good morning", the bunny said with a rather deep voice, "I am sorry for being late, but I definitely underestimated the traffic here in Zootopia. I am not visiting the city very often."

He was the tallest bunny Nick had ever seen, more than one head taller than Judy. He wore an expensive looking black suit with tie.

His fur was long and had the color of whipped cream. In his face and at the end of his ears he had black stripes that gave him a ferocious look. His eyes were dark brown and his entire look spelled the word 'boring'. Nick noted a scar under his right eye.

"No problem, Agent Savage, I just had…"

"Please, call me Jack!"

Bogo inhaled deeply, he didn't liked being interrupted. "Well, _Jack_ , I am Chief Bogo. You can call me Chief. And, as I just was about to tell you, these two here are your contact officers for the time of the training. My best officers in the field…", Bogo's chest got bigger with pride, "Lieutenants Judy and Nick Wilde! You may heard of their accomplishments in the news or on TV."

Jack Savage took a long look at Nick, his face showing as much interest as if Bogo had shown him a cockroach.

"No…", he said, "never heard of them. But I don't follow the regional news very often. A fox, how… interesting. And…", he turned towards Judy and his eyebrows went up. He took another long look, this time at the beaming bunny with the bright purple eyes, "… what have we here?"

Judy sprang up so quickly from her chair, that it tilted and fell against Nick's knees. He hissed out in pain. Judy did not notice.

"I'm Judy Wilde, sir, please let me tell you how honored I am meeting you… I can't say how much I've heard about you and… and…"

To Nick's embarassment, Judy started to giggle like a little school girl and that Savage bloke smiled at her in a way that gave Nick pain in the stomach.

"Thank you very much, Judy. I am delighted to meet you and I am sure we will work quite well together…", for a fraction of a second his eyes turned to Nick, "… and you, too, of course."

Finally, he let go of her paw. He turned to Nick again as he was noticing him for the first time.

"Sorry, pal, your name was…"

"Nick", answered Nick as calmly as possible, "Nick Wilde."

"Wilde?", Savage repeated confused, "You two… have the same last name? That is a strange coincidence…"

"Not really!", Nick smirked, "We are married!"

Savage's eyes went wide. "Married?", he gasped, "You mean, to each other?"

The look on the secret agent's face was worth quite a lot, at least in Nick's opinion. Judy looked a little bit embarassed.

"Yes, it's a long story!", she said quite quickly. Nick had the strange feeling that she was ashamed about the fact that they were married, something that never happened before.

"So", she continued, "when will we start to train?"

"What? Oh, that… first training lesson is tonight at 10 pm", answered Jack Savage.

"At 10? Why so late?", Judy said shocked.

"Well, I promised Chief Bogo to not interfere with his personnel too much… 15 officers out of the day shift would cause quite a gap in the duty roster."

Judy and Nick got out their mobile phones and started to swipe over the screens. Confused, Jack watched them and listened to their quick talking.

"Samantha?", asked Nick.

"No, she is on vacation…", answered Judy, "Maybe Joanna…"

"Nah, you know, she's not doing night shifts. And for Kayleigh it's too late, too…"

"What the heck are they doing?", asked Jack to Bogo.

"They are organizing", answered the water buffalo, "They look for someone who can babysit their cubs, normally they never work…"

"CUBS?", interrupted Jack astonished, "You mean, they have kids?!"

Bogo smiled, "Long story."

Nick sighed, "It looks like we need to ask my dad!"

Judy seemed not pleased, "I don't know… I know how crazy he is about the kids, but he is not the youngest anymore, can't walk properly and they are so wild…"

Chief Bogo cleared his throat. "Well, as soon as you have settled your private affairs… we might continue!"

Bogo nodded after he had the full attention of his two officers again, "You will meet at 10 pm in the small briefing room next to the gym. Sports outfit. Agent Savage will put you through a series of test, both written and practical. Questions? Dismissed!"

Judy and Nick saluted their chief and vanished. Jack watched them, deeply in thought.

"And these two are really your best cops?", he asked, "A little bunny girl and a… a fox?"

"Giving the fact that you are a bunny, too, I wouldn't have thought you have any prejudice against Lieutenant Judy Wilde. Really, you should read the news from time to time. I don't think you like taking advice, but here's one for free: don't underestimate the fox. I did that, too, and I'm glad he is on my side. This little fellow is much tougher than he looks. He can be a real pain in the butt, a jester, but he is very experienced in crime – from both sides, if you understand."

"Can you trust him?", Savage asked. The answer surprised him.

"I would trust him with my very life!", Bogo said full of confidence.

When Judy and Nick drove home this afternoon, Judy noticed, that Nick was rather quiet.

"Is something wrong?", she asked.

"No…", he replied, "Nothing, honey bunny."

"So… what do you think of him?"

"Of whom?", asked Nick.

"Jack Savage, of course!"

"Savage…", Nick spit out the name, "What kind of secret name is this? Sounds more like he worked as a stripper once…"

"Nick, seriously! Don't you think we could learn a lot form him? I am so excited! I wonder what kind of tasks he will set up for us tonight!"

"Hmph", Nick just answered.

They picked up the kids and when they told him that they would sleep over at Nick's dad, both started to yell in excitement.

"Yay, we're sleeping at gramps!", Keira screamed so loud, Nick's ears started to ring.

They stopped over at their apartment to get the necessary things – in fact, as Nick remarked, it looked more like the twins wanted to move in with grandpa. But the favourite stuffed animals and favourite books and the blanket and the star-shaped pillow couldn't be left behind, not even for a single night.

They drove over to the small apartment house where Peter Wilde lived. He opened the door with a broad grin and the twins flew in his arms so wildly, he stumbled two steps back.

"Kids, not so wild!", said Judy, "Remember, gramps is not so…"

"Ah, Judy, let them. The day when I can't handle the love of my two sweet angels, will be the day they carry me out of this hole", Peter said laughing.

After all hugs and kisses were exchanged, Judy and Nick went back to their apartment. It was not even 5 pm, but they went straight to bed to get some sleep as both suspected, that a rather hard night laid in front of them.


	4. Chapter 4 - Fox vs Bunny

**Chapter 4 – Fox vs. Bunny**

Fifteen highly motivated ZPD cops stood in the gym, dressed in training suits. Next to Judy and Nick there were the wolf Fangmeyer, the huge tiger Tony Thiruvananthapurram, who had a soft spot for Judy, Estella Garcia, a mountain lioness who was very sensitive regarding her size as she was rather small for one of her kind. Then there were two polar bears Judy did not know, one grizzly, a female panther who looked awesome in a belly free shirt and some other cops, Judy and Nick had seen but never talked to before as they were in different shifts.

The door opened and in walked Jack Savage, wearing a smug looking suit with tie. His black striped ears went up and down when he watched the line of cops. Nick noticed he looked longer than usual at Judy who looked great in her extreme short gym pants and a skin tight shirt.

He wasted no time for introductions, he just said, "I think, we'll start with a little warm-up exercises!"

Half an hour later, the fifteen officers were drenched in sweat and panting hard. Jack shook his head and took notes on a clipboard.

"I am sorry, sir", said Officer Garcia, "but I thought we would learn some agent stuff, not panting our lungs out!"

"Patience. In the next days, you will learn a lot of… 'agent stuff', but first I have to find out about your physical condition. It is true, being in agent is not like in the movies, there is a lot of desk work, but when you are out in the field, every single fault can be your last one. The fitter you are, the better are your chances to fulfil a mission… or to survive it."

Jack looked around, "Only very few of you fulfil the minimum physical requirements for being accepted in the Secret Service basic training. However, we will…"

"Oh yeah?", hissed Garcia, "I think it is enough to cope with… let's say, a bunny, don't you think?"

She had bared her teeth while looking at the agent. Even though he was quite tall and she was rather petite, she still was two heads taller.

Jack nodded, "There is only one way to find out, isn't it?"

Slowly, he removed his tie and his jacket, then started to unbutton his shirt. Nick didn't like how Judy bent forward to take a good look at him. Jack turned around and Nick thought amused, that the bunny agent was shy, but then heard the officers gasp when he took his shirt off. Not only was his back striped like a tiger's, but covered in long, deep scars.

Jack faced Garcia again and said, "Let's go!"

Garcia attacked ferociously with a roar. Was happened now was too quick to see with naked eyes, but seconds later, she laid on the floor, nose bleeding, wincing, holding her knee.

"Pityful", Jack looked at her with no mercy, "Next!"

One officer after the other tried to overcome the harmless looking bunny, but only Tony and the panther managed to fight with him for more than one minute, before they, too, had to accept defeat.

Then, it was Judy's turn. Nick noticed, that she was very cautious, trying not to offer Jack any weakness he could use against her. Jack, on the other hand, did not want to get the fight over as quickly as he did with the others. When he tried a punch, Judy kicked him hard and he made two steps back even though he managed to block her with one arm. Judy stormed after him, but suddenly he yelled "Stop!" at her and Judy froze in mid-motion, a rather funny view, especially her shocked face.

"What did she do wrong?", asked Jack.

Nick snorted, "She stopped fighting when you told her so!"

The others laughed.

Jack took a deep breath, "We are here to learn. Miss Wilde just…"

"Mrs!", corrected Nick and the others giggled again.

"Whatever!", Jack seemed to get angry, "She just attacked without covering herself, I could have hit her face easily, both paws of her were down. It made no sense hitting her, it was more important for me, that you guys learn from her mistakes!"

"Well, you were not so friendly to all the others, you beat them to pulp and I have learned nothing from it!", Nick answered, baring his teeth.

"Nick…", said Judy warningly, but Jack broke out in bitter laughter.

"Look at our Mr. Fox here, he thinks he is so clever… I must admit, I have saved you for last, as I think you will be most fun…"

Before Judy could hold him back, Nick pounced at the bunny, attacking him with a roar.

To Judy's surprise, Jack defended himself while continuing to speak.

"We all know, foxes are no fighters. They are cowardice creatures, in the early times, they just hunted sick and wounded animals much smaller than themselves, mostly eating insects or licking off the bones of the kills _real_ predators had made…"

Judy heard Nick hiss and knew that he was really furious now. Obviously, Jack tried to taunt Nick so he would making mistakes. Nick moved clumsily, trying to attack the white bunny with everything he could, but Jack laughed at his attempts and continued to mock him in front of the others, which made Nick even more angry.

"You see, foxes are no real opponents for a well trained fighter, it's easy to get them… like this!"

During Nick's next clumsy attack, Jack jumped up and placed a hard kick against Nick's left angle.

Judy closed her eyes when she heard Nick wincing with pain. Nick's face was now a mask of fury, his teeth bared, saliva dropping out from his trembling lips. He limped, trying to keep his injured left leg in the back.

"You are the worst of this team!", triumphated Jack, "You couldn't even fight a mouse. And no one is afraid of your funny grimaces, you're nothing but a worthless, dumb, scavenging fox. What do you think, shall we end this?"

Judy looked heartbroken at the others but no one dared to say a word. Most of them looked on the floor, ashamed of the poor performance Nick delivered.

Judy wondered, why he was so bad, she had seen him fighting on the streets, wrangling down criminals much larger than himself, but now he was jumping up and down, hissing and gnarling… obviously, Jack's taunting remarks had made him so angry, that he had even forgotten the very basics of fighting.

Now, after Jack's last insults, he stomped towards him, even forgetting to cover his injured leg. Jack grinned when he noticed, then jumped up and brought his powerful bunny legs to front to deliver a final kick to the head, that would Nick sent into oblivion.

Judy yelled, "Stop!", but no one heard her. When Jack was in midair, Nick suddenly put all the weight on his left leg, that all of a sudden, didn't seemed to be injured at all. His face changed in an instance from that wild mask of fury into full concentration and – yes, a little triumph as well. He ducked and bent his head down, so Jack flew well above him.

When Jack noticed that Nick has tricked him, it was too late, he was in the air and could not alter his course. Nick grabbed him by the ears and jerked hard.

Judy hissed in sympathy, knowing very well how painful this treatment is. Nick made an elegant somersault and suddenly he was on top of the bunny. Jack fell on the floor and in exactly the moment his back crashed hard on the ground, both of Nicks legs landed with brute force on the bunny's celiar plexus.

The crash to the floor doubled the impact of the fox. A tidal wave of extreme pain shot through Jack's body, echoing back and forth, getting worse every second. His diaphragma cramped and he couldn't breathe. Jack didn't hear the other officers jeer, he didn't saw Nick walking back to Judy without any limping but with a wide smirk on his face.

Jack started to drown in an ocean of pain. He closed his eyes and tried to force his body back to normal. He had experienced pain like this earlier, but not often. In addition, he felt ashamed that he was tricked that easily by the fox he had clearly underestimated. He had wanted to demonstrate to Judy what a kind of loser her… _husband_ was, it was still hard for him to even think this word.

After a time span Jack could not measure, he was finally able to force some air back in his hurting lungs. He managed to get up very slowly.

"That was…", he said with a wheezing voice, "not bad. Not bad at all. I think, we have deserved ourselves a fifteen minute break. I'll expect you back in here at…", he tried to look as casual as possible on the big clock hanging on the wall in front of him, "… half past eleven. Dismissed!" He had to suppress a cough at the last word.

The officers marched out of the gym in single file, most of them grinning hard. When the last one was gone, Jack slumped to the floor again, both paws pressed on his hurting stomach.

"That… fucking…"

"Are you okay?", said a soft voice.

The last animal Jack wanted to see now was Judy, but she stood behind him. He had not noticed that she had not left the gym with the others.

Jack was unable to answer, all he could do was to stare in these beautiful purple eyes that looked at him. However, her look was hard and did not show the slighest sign of pity.

"You know, you have earned this. You said awful things about foxes, things that are not true. Your words were hurting me more than him, you know. I'll give you one advice: Never again underestimate a fox. I made this mistake once and it nearly had cost me my life. Even I was not sure if he was pretending or not, but believe me: if he had not finished you, I had. By the way, I think you peed your pants."

Jack wished he could just vanish. Never before he had felt so low, so ashamed. It didn't get much better when he heard her giggle.

"Just kidding!"

He heard her walking to the door. He turned his head and saw her slender figure, her hips waving from left to right. She didn't turn around when she said, "I would offer to bring you a cup of coffee, but I seriously doubt you could drink it right now!"

Then she was gone.

When Judy entered the break room with the coffee machine, the mood was high in there. The other officers had gathered around Nick celebrating his victory over Agent Savage. To her displeasure, Officer Garcia and the black panther girl stood much too close to Nick and that panther bitch had her paw on Judy's favorite comforter, Nick's bushy tail. With the sweetest smile, Judy squeezed between Nick and the panther.

"Ex – cuse me!", she piped.

Nick bent down to her reaching her a steaming cup, "Here, fluff butt, this one's for you!"

"Thanks, darling, you're the best!", she said louder than necessary and gave him a long kiss, something she normally didn't do on duty, at least not in front of other colleagues, but she clearly had to mark her territory here.

"Good job, sweetheart!", she said to him, even though she did not feel good about Jack being in so much pain. But no need to let Nick know about this right now…

The rest of the training was rather harmless and uneventful. At 1 am, Jack finally released them and Judy and Nick drove home, having half a night for themselves as the cubs were at Peter's.

After she laid down next to her fox, she noticed his paws wandering over her fur.

"Jeez, Nick, aren't you tired after all that exercise? Remember, we have to get up in 6 hours…"

He pressed her down and two seconds later her pajamas were gone.

"So, honey bunny, don't tell me you aren't in the mood…"

His paws got naughty and Judy couldn't resist any longer, letting out a loud moan.

"How do you prefer it, Carrots? Easy or hard?"

"Hard!", she panted, " _Very_ hard…"

Half an hour later, the two bodies were lying entangled on the bed, both panting hard. Judy had pressed her face in the soft breast fur of her husband, inhaling the beloved scent. She was about to surrender to sleep, when Nick said, "Today, in Bogo's office there was a moment when I thought you were embarrassed of being my wife!"

She rose her head and looked in his emerald eyes, "Nick, you know this is not true. I was confused because Jack reacted so strangely when… well, when he realized we were married, that's all."

"He likes you!", Nick said.

"What, just because he is a bunny, too?"

"What kind of bunny is he, anyway? He is much too large and his fur… but don't change subject, he likes you!"

"I don't know… by the way, do you know how cute you are when you are jealous?"

"Me? No, I just say what everyone could see… he didn't even dare to fight you in training – he aborted the fight as soon as he was in the position to strike. He was not so nice to all the others."

"Hey, it was just a training fight...", interjected Judy.

"Hell, no! What have we learned? Nothing! And he injured some of the others, Lucius had a tooth knocked loose and Tatiana had a bleeding wound at her neck…"

"Who is Tatiana?"

"The panther, Officer Tatiana Adrianopoulus, don't you know her?"

"Ah, the black one who was so busy petting your tail…"

Nick snorted, "Who is jealous now?"

Judy didn't answer, mostly because she felt he was right. Nick started carressing her ears and Judy let out a deep sigh.

Suddenly, Nick said, "Do you sometimes think we made a mistake?"

"What do you mean?"

"The two of us being together. A fox and a bunny, pred and prey, blah, blah, blah… quite a lot of people think we are… strange, even pervert… like that bunny Hockstetter…"

Judy's head jerked up, "How did you know about that stupid cunt?" But she guessed the answer immediately, "Jenny… she told you, didn't she?"

"Yes, don't be mad at her. I think she is quite nice and she thinks you are a goddess… she was so upset that someone spat on you and said mean things, she actually started crying when she told me about it."

"She shouldn't take shit like this so seriously…"

"And you shouldn't take it so lightly, Carrots. Jack Savage didn't spat on you, but I saw his disgusted face… and he really tried to hurt me, if I hadn't tricked him, he would have jumped full tilt in my face and I would at least getting stitches right now!"

Judy sighed, "I know. That's why I taunted him after I checked he was well. You both overdid it, you know. You should be careful, he won't underestimate you again…"

Angry with himself, Jack Savage slammed the door of his hotel room. His chest was still burning like hell and when he tried to take a deep breath, pain was shooting through his lower abdomen. That cursed fox! He laid down on his bed fully clothed and closed his eyes.

What was wrong with him? He never had been a romantic guy, but every time his mind ran idle, he saw pictures of that beautiful bunny with the purple eyes in his mind.

"That's so stupid!", he told himself and looked in his bag for his cell phone.

He didn't like modern ways of communication and had this thing just because regulations told him to do so. In the phone book, there was only a single number stored; it belonged to the secret phone of the head of the Secret Service, known as "D". Savage was one of the selected few who used to know his real name, but he had nearly forgotten by now.

He pressed the green button. It rang seven times, then the mail box answered. Immediately, Jack disconnected and tried again, until the growling voice of the scotch terrier pierced his ears.

"Hell, Agent Savage, it's 3 am, what in the world can be so important on a training mission?"

"I need background information", said Jack without wasting time on preliminaries, "Newspaper, files, anything we have. On Judy Wilde, born Hopps. And Nick Wilde. Wilde with 'e' at the end. Are you writing this down? Send everything on my phone!"

"Are you gone nuts?", came the shouted reply, "What do you think we have a recherche department for? Imagine every agent would call me for information and…"

"Just do it!", Jack said and hang up.

He knew exactly what kind of agents would sit at the night shift in the recherche department, rookies who knew nothing. When D would call them, they would get their boss and he would get quicker and better information.

He took a small bottle of strong whiskey out of the minibar. He normally didn't drink any alcohol, but in his present condition he needed it. He had just emptied the tiny bottle, when his phone vibrated. Patiently he waited until the large document had been downloaded. The next four hours he spent bent over the small monitor, absorbing info.

Photos of little Judy, a cute bunny kid in short skirts, a photo of her wearing a fake police uniform under a great sign "Carrot Day". A family picture of three dozen bunnies, someone had encircled her. She stood arm in arm with a white bunny who seemed to had her eyes closed. Pics of her parents. Background info, a carrot farmer. Jack grunted. So stereotypical, so cliché, carrot farmer girl, for crying out loud. Report cards from school, top marks in P.E., math, natural sciences, mediocre grades in history and english. Then college, master degree in criminal sciences. He skipped through her final thesis, "Influence of Predator segregation on criminal statistics in urban areas", nothing that changed the world, but enough for summa cum laude on this farm college. He lifted an eyebrow when he reached her report cards from police academy. Bad grades in the beginning, _very_ bad, her instructor had wrote "Unable to perform any duty" on her six-week-card.

"Interesting, Miss Hopps… what happened then?"

Next report card was much better, "Promising" now stood in the remarks field. Four month later she graduated as best of her class. Her graduation picture. Those eyes, so proud, so full of power. He stared at the picture for at least 45 minutes before he continued.

The Night Howler Case. Jack worked through police files, some written by Judy herself, numerous articles and a video of a press conference. Jack hated big cities, he lived in a small cottage far out of any populated area, therefore he had not known about the mayhem the former assistant mayor had put the city of Zootopia into.

Surprised he read that Judy had resigned and went back to Bunny Burrows, but she came back only two days later and voila, she had solved the case. The next article had a picture with Bogo arresting Mayor Bellweather, Judy, dressed in awful clothes that screamed out farm girl, was in the background… with that fox next to her.

"I'll be damned…", Jack said slowly. He swiped to the next page… and nearly puked on the screen. A wedding picture, Judy in a wonderful white dress, Nick in gala uniform. Jack couldn't bear looking in Judy's face, the look she gave that fox, as if the sun shines out of every orifice…

He closed the file and opened the other one, named "Nicholas P. Wilde"… at first he thought the file was damaged during transfer as it has only a pawful of pages.

No information between the birth certificate and the application for police academy. Nothing.

"This can't be…", he murmured, but the only remarks he found were two entries that the fox had a license for selling food and for "transporting food over climatic boundaries within Zootopia for commercial reasons". Obviously, he had helped Judy solving her first case. Then he joined police. But why should a fox do such a thing? On his application form he had written "Businessman" in the field "Former occupation(s)".

"Yeah, sure…", grunted Jack. He would bet every cent he had that this shady figure did something illegal. Stealing, conning, whatever. He joined the police and got close to Judy, a bunny, his natural enemy. Somehow, he convinced her to marry him, for god's sake. He flipped through the rest of the small file, finding an article where the liaison between the two officers was uncovered by showing a blurred photo of the fox's hospital registration form after he got shot on duty. A red circle was around the field "Spouse: Judy Hopps (fiancee)".

Just when he wanted to close the folder, he saw it contains two video files. He opened the first one. A text appeared on the screen informing him that he was watching a CCTV from a surveillance camera at a place called "Vinegar Street". The quality was rather good, he could see a shooting between two cops and a handful of criminals. After some time, he saw how the fox got shot. A huge black figure stood over him, pointing his gun at the fox's head, when suddenly…

"I don't believe it…", Jack whispered. He stopped and replayed the scene again and again. Unfortunately he could not zoom and see Judy's face when she shot the guy threatening her beloved. He had never before seen a bunny act so… ferocious, for lack of a better word. She had jumped on the hood of a car, firing while two pumas were firing at her. Jack could see that she got hit, but she completely ignored it, fully concentrating on her target.

The second video was even better, it was a cut from multiple body cams of the police officers coming to help Judy and Nick. Judy and another female officer, a cat, were trying to help the fox when suddenly he saw Judy yelling in her radio. She looked like a predator ready for attack. Then the ambulance arrived and the speechless Secret Service agent saw how Judy's talk with the black panther paramedic turned into a fight. She stood there, beautiful as a goddess, covered in blood from head to toe, teeth bared, claws extended and that panther, who could have easily swallowed her up in a single bite, retreated. [For details on this refer to chapter 11 of "Prey and Prejudice"].

After watching the scene several times, Jack Savage leant back in his chair, taking a deep breath. Normally, he always tried to forget the detail that he was born a bunny, a prey animal, weak and fragile. From early youth on, he had been under the impression that he was born in the wrong body, he never felt like a helpless prey animal, he never evaded a fight. In school, he was an outsider. For some reasons, he never had had the idea to join police, he wanted to go to the military but they just laughed at him. One day, he read an article about some undercover mission from the Secret Service that went public.

He had marched directly into the headquarters and got tested. As he was very intelligent, they had offered him a job in data management, but he wanted to become a field agent. The officer who had interviewed him raised his eyebrow and had said, that the tests for field agents are very difficult and that he would see no chance for a bunny like him. But after some discussion, he had agreed on accepting Jack for the tests. These tests were not only difficult for prey, they were impossible. After a sixteen hour endurance test with temperatures between -20 and +50 C, Jack had to give up. But just when he had limped out of the room, a young scotch terrier stopped him. He told him, that he never had seen a bunny coming that far in the test made for much bigger predators and offered him a job.

So, he worked his way up. After a long chain of successes he bacame one of the elite agents of the Service. The officer who had believed in him, had become the director at the same time and was now only referred to as "D".

He never had seen other prey animals es equals, he always had felt superior. But other predators had never accepted him as equal as well, so he never had any friends. And now… now he had met Judy, a bunny, the first bunny that seemed to feel just like him, a bunny that could fight predators and, as he had seen on the surveillance videos, was able to kill them and could also stand up to them. Even more, she felt so much like a predator she even had married one. This was a mistake, of course, something she did out of desperation, as no other prey animal like herself was there.

"Oh, Judy…", he said to the screen where the image of her blood drenched body, shouting at the panther who had lifted both paws in a sign of surrender, still lingered. "If I had only met you earlier…"

Fully dressed he threw his aching body on the hotel bed, not even switching out the lights. Ten minutes later he was in the middle of a strange dream, featuring vicious foxes being sacrificed to a blood covered goddess with bright purple eyes.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Party

**Chapter 5 – The Party**

In contrast to Jack, Nick and Judy enjoyed a pleasant night. With the rare luxury of having no kids, they slept til seven, Nick's wake-up kisses led to another round of mating, then they showered and had extensive breakfast together. Today, Kitty had planned them for 8 to 12 office duty, then off til 8 pm. Bogo had convinced Jack to separate the team in two groups, as they would spent the next days in the classroom. Nick would join the 8-to-10 group, then drive home and take over from Judy, who then would have the same class from 11 to 1 am.

So they spent four hours in the office, fighting the never ending war against bureaucracy, then drove over to Peter, to release him from the twins. He looked quite tired, but happy.

"I hope they behaved!", said Judy.

"Oh, yeah, of course", Peter hurried to reply, "They are two real angles, we had quite a lot of fun, hadn't we, kids?"

"Yayy!", yelled the twins who were full of energy, as usual. When they arrived in the penthouse, Judy suggested a nap for the kids, but they pleaded to go downstairs to the pool.

"We will sleep much better if we are really exhausted, mom, pleaaaaaaaase!", begged Leia.

"Let them", said Nick, "I'll come with them, some swimming will be good for me."

"Okay, you can go, I'll bring them in a minute, as soon as I got them some towels.

Strictly speaking, they had to share the pool with the owners of the other two smaller penthouses; but the first one was sold to Mr Micawber, a ferret stock broker who was travelling a lot and nearly never was there, the other penthouse was still vacant.

So it was not necessary that Nick used the changing room to undress and get in his swimming trunks, but he liked the quietness of the room. Just when he was finished, he heard the door slam, followed by the pitter-patter of small vixen feet storming in and Keira's voice echoing from the tiled walls.

"Last one in the pool is a lazy bunny!"

Then came Judy's yelling, "No, wait, Keira, wait, DON'T YOU DARE JUMP IN THE POOL WITH ALL YOUR CLOTHES ON!"

A loud splashing noise.

Nick sighed. So much for the peace and quietness. He came out of the changing room, greeted by Judy's angry face.

"Your daughter!", she yelled, "I'm going back up, I don't care how little Miss Disobey will get her tiny wet butt back up!" She stormed out, cursing.

Slowly, Nick marched to the pool where Keira was splashing around, fully clothed, while Leia stood hesitating on the edge.

"Come in, sis', it's awesome!", tempted Keira.

"Dunno… Mom was quite angry…"

"Yes, at me, no difference if she needed to dry one set of clothes or two… jump!"

Leia looked shyly to her dad.

"May I…?"

Nick grinned, "Fore once, your sister is right, honey… what are you waiting for?"

Leia giggled and gave Nick an adoring look, that makes his heart skip. Then she jumped clumsily in, jeans, sweat shirt and all.

While the kids were splashing at the shallow end of the pool, Nick swam some rounds in the deeper part. In the past days, his scars on his back were hurting a little and swimming was the best therapy.

After half an hour, he forced the screaming kids out of the water and faught to get their wet clothes off their wet fur.

"So, you little rascals, up you run!", he said finally.

"But we are naked!", said Keira.

"When you can jump in the pool with your clothes, you can walk the stairs up naked, honey… pray, that no one is there."

"Daaad, you're mean… it's ice cold out there", said Leia.

"The quicker you run, the lesser you'll feel the cold!", he answered.

Slowly they walked up until Nick said loudly, "Oh, hi, Mr Micawber!", then they rushed up the stairs, screaming, in new record time.

Nick threw the wet clothes in the tub while Judy dressed the kids in pajamas for their nap.

They enjoyed a happy family afternoon, then Nick kissed his girls goodbye to start off with his training. This time, Jack told them about different methods of reconnaissance and even Nick had to admit that it was rather interesting. After the lesson, Jack asked Nick if he could stay for a second.

"Sure. Why not?", the fox said without any enthusiasm.

Jack cleared his throat, "I… I would like to apologize. For my rude behaviour yesterday."

He cleared his throat yet again. He was not used to admit mistakes, let alone apologizing for them.

"I got carried away…"

"Okay, okay, no problem!", said Nick quickly as he noticed the agony Jack was in, "I shouldn't have reacted by hurting you. So, why don't we just forget it?"

At night, Jack gave the same lesson again to the second group including Judy. He had wanted to ask her to stay after class as well, but when he finished and she said bye he just nodded and let her go. He had planned to talk with her about her having made a mistake marrying that fox, but how should he approach a delicate subject like that? She would probably freak out when he suggests searching a partner within her own species, because it would be very obvious that he was the one interested in her. But was he? Jack had emotions he had never felt before. He sighed and slammed his head hard on the desk.

"Should I come back later?"

The soft, but strong voice, mixed with confusion and a good part of amusement made him freeze. She had come back!

Quickly, he lifted his head and stared at her grinning face.

"No, no, please, stay… I just have a little headache, that's all… what can I do for you?"

"Oh, I just forgot to tell you that we have arranged a small party after our last lesson on Friday… to show you that we appreciate your good training here and are really thankful for what we've learned!"

Jack forced his face to smile. He hated parties, he hated everything where a lot of animals are together in a small place, but, of course, he would not admit that right now.

"Oh… that's great! Where will we go?"

"Down here in the sublevel, next to the garage, there is an old storeroom that has a bar, a billard table and stuff, where we use to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, big cases and so on…"

All of a sudden, she moved forward, her paw stretched out. Jack froze in shock. Her beautiful face with these tremendous purple eyes was now mere inches away, her paw had grabbed his tie, pulling it playfully out of his suit.

"By the way, Jack… it's a party, so casual dress is recommended…"

She let go of him and hopped out of the room, leaving a confused Jack, his skin where she touched him so briefly still tickling.

Jack had decided to move the final training lesson out of the classroom and on the shooting range, a decision that lifted the mood of his trainees considerately. Jack had brought some special weapons used by the Secret Service. They awed over a long rifle firing tiny ice needles that could kill a mammal without leaving a bullet. Judy was holding a large revolver with some difficulties, as it was quite heavy.

"I would like to fire this baby!", she said, her eyes glimmering dangerously.

"I would not consider this", said Jack cautiously, "This is a cal .55 super sonic revolver, firing uranium alloy projectiles going thru any kind of armor up to 90mm kevlar. You need quite a lot of strength to…", he stopped mid sentence when he saw the angry look she gave him.

"I have stopped listening to other bunnies telling me what I can _not_ do!", she said and walked with the heavy revolver that was made for the paws of a bear to the firing lane. Jack looked at Nick, but the fox shrugged and put his ear protection on. Quickly, all others followed suit. Judy lifted the revolver with both paws, spreading her legs widely, gritting her teeth while aiming.

When she pressed the trigger, the earth shook and despite the ear protection those mammals with more sensible ears winced in pain. Judy skidded five feet backwards, the revolver was ripped out of her hands. Tatiana, the panther, jumped and caught it before it hit the ground.

"Wow!", Judy was rubbing her hurting paws, "I need one of these!"

Some others ran to the end of the lane. The target was gone and the protection wall was ruptured. A huge wall of massive cinder bricks were behind, the bullet stuck in the fifth layer of bricks, the other four layers had been pulverized.

Impressed with the fire power, the group continued with normal target practice. Jack waited til everyone was aiming and firing a series of shots, the he suddenly, without any warning, turned off the lights.

He heard confused yelling, but also the firing of three guns. When he turned the light back on again, he saw that the two felines and Nick had continued firing thanks to the night vision of their species.

"Okay, let's call it a day", shouted Jack. The police officers put down their weapons, took off the ear protection and formed a circle around their trainer. Jack had an envelope in his paws.

"Six of you fifteen have passed the test. That's much more than I expected!", he said without any introduction. After the last remark, he saw some hostility, but he didn't care. "That means the other nine are not bad, simply not good enough for becoming secret agents. I will meet your chief now. We'll meet at the party. Thanks."

He turned around and left the shooting range after throwing the envelope in Judy's paw.

"What an arrogant son of a bitch!", said Tatiana.

"Yeah, I would like to rip that little bunny to pieces!", growled Björnsson, the grizzly bear.

"Forget it, it's over!", Estella, the mountain lioness tried to calm her colleagues, "Anyway, none of us really _wanted_ to become an agent, so why do we care? Gimme that thing!"

Unceremoneously she ripped the envelope out of Judy's paw, opened it and distributed the report cards. Like in school, the usual talk erupted.

"What? Only 38 percent? But why…"

"Hey, 77 percent, I never thought I would get that much…"

"Hm, 65… how much you got?"

"That asshole gave me 41, can you believe that?"

"Hey, Nick, how much did you got?", asked Tatiana in her purring voice.

Nick lifted an eyebrow, "89 percent!"

The other's jeered, "Hey, it was worth kicking him hard!", Björnson guffled.

"That means you're top of our class!", said Estelle, "except, if… hey, Judy, what did you got?"

Judy didn't answer. She stared at the sheet of paper, than slowly turned it around.

"98 percent?", yelled Tatiana. Someone whistled the James Bond theme.

"I have no idea, why…", started Judy, but Estella just laughed.

"Forget it, Judy, it's worth nothing. He's an idiot. He gave you a present, one bunny to another. And now… party time! I will drink until I drop and no one should dare stop me on _that_ mission!"

She crumpled her test result and threw it on the floor.

When Jack entered the party room, he noticed, that quite a lot of alcohol was on the tables. Chief Bogo had given all participants the next day off, so the officers took advantage of that in abundance. Music played and some cops danced. Jack sighed. He would depart early in the morning, he had hoped he could have a private word with Judy, but what should he tell her? That he loved her? She was married. No use. Best thing to say nothing, depart and forget her. Easy said. He turned around and watched her dancing with that huge tiger who whirled her around whike she shrieked with laughter. The fox, his usual smirk on his face, stood at the bar with some other male officers. He said something, but even Jack's bunny ears could not hear it over the loud music. The others laughed. Jack would place a bet that the fox made a joke about him. He sighed again and filled his glass with whiskey.

From the other side of the room, Judy was watched by the two other females in the room. Tatiana looked at the bunny that shrieked with joy.

"I can't tell you how much I envy her!", she said to Estella.

The mountain lioness lifted an eyebrow, "Who, Judy?"

"Of course, Judy! Everything she touches becomes gold! Her career, her love life… heck, she is even raising children!"

"Yeah, they are adopted!", said Estella.

"Who cares?", answered the panther, "They are happy… and she has Nick…"

"I never knew you had something for Nick!", Estella said grinning, "I never would have guessed that you are a speciecist, too!"

"Shit, Stella, this stinking town makes a speciessi… a whatever out of everyone! I live here for eight months and the only panthers I met are the ones I arrest. Mating season is nearly over and I haven't been laid even once!"

"Tati, you're drunk. You do not really consider…"

"Well, heck, if yes, then what? Judy and Nick are doing it, fuck, even Gazelle is doing it… I'm not going that far to date a prey… would be difficult with my size…"

The eyes of the mountain lioness became slits. The panther sighed, "Heck, Estella, I was talking about my size, not yours. Don't be so sensible. Look at Judy! She is by far the smallest cop here but does she care?"

Estella growled, "So, when you like her that much, have a go on her… when you are a speciecist, you could as well become lesbian, too, same difference…"

"No thanks!", belched the panther, "I would stick to felines… by the way, you are rather cute, too…" She bent forward and playfully licked the cheek of the stunned lioness.

"Eww, gross, Tati, stop that! Man, you really had enough! I am not _that_ desperate to find a mate…"

"Yeah, me neither!" Tatiana stretched her well proportioned body and pressed her paws in her face.

"Estella, be a darling and get us another round of booze…"

"No way, you already had too much and me, too. Hell, stop pressing your chin glands, you're producing pheromones…"

"Heck, why not? Let everyone know that I am horny as hell… Look at Fangmeyer over there… do you think it's true that wolves are rather well equipped? I've heard that they can't pull out their dicks after cumming so you have to stick together for some time… I wonder what will happen when I let him cum in my mouth…"

"You are downright disgusting, stop it! Oh no, he's got a whiff of your love perfume, stupid bitch…"

Fangmeyer had lifted his head and started sniffing. He turned around, searching for the source.

"And here he comes… look, his tail is wagging!", grinned Estella.

Fangmeyer did not waste a single look on Estella, but grinned widely at the panther.

"Hey, cute black pussy cat, wanna dance?"

Tatiana sprang up her feet, swerving, sending the table and quite a lot of empty bottles and glasses to the ground.

"Sure, wolfie…", she purred.

No one noticed when Jack left the room.

It was 4 am when Nick carried a giggling and rather drunken Judy on his arms into their apartment. As he still needed to take daily medication as an aftermath of his serious injury [for details refer to "Prey and Prejudice"], he just had soft drinks all evening. But even so, he had had some fun, sometimes it was quite funny to remain sober in the middle of drunken mammals. He could tease Tatiana quite a lot with the pics he shot from her and Fangmeyer exchanging wet kisses on the dance floor…

"What a cool party!", Judy yelled and Nick put his paw to her mouth so she won't wake the kids up. He paid Melinda, their babysitter, and offered to drive her home but she had already called her boyfriend who waited outside.

He helped Judy undress. When he switched the light off, Judy said drowsily, "Have you noticed, Jack left quite early…"

"No, I haven't", lied Nick.

"Pity… I would have loved to dance with him… I don't get to see a lot of bunnies here in Zootopia… let alone dance with them"

"Hey, we danced a lot, wasn't that nothing?", Nick said, trying to sound jealous.

Judy giggled, "Well, Mr Sleazy Fox, _I_ danced, _you_ groped… I have your paw prints all over me…"

"Yeah, exactly how you like it, my sassy cute bunny…"

His paws wandered over on her side, but he immediately retreated them when Judy let out a loud snore.

 _Well,_ he thought, _at least I don't think we will see that strange bunny agent ever again_.

He fell asleep, not knowing how wrong he was about that.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Assignment

**Chapter 6 – The Assignment**

It was end of October, but the weather still felt like summer in the woods far away from the bustling city of Zootopia. Jack Savage sat in front of his tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed a lazy afternoon. He had chopped wood all morning, but he knew this would not last for the winter. If the weather would be fine tomorrow, he would need to have another workout with the axe, but…

A sudden snapping noise and Jack's long white ears with the black stripes shot in the air. He cursed silently. His gun was in the cottage, of course, he looked at the axe that was some ten feet away – it could as well be on the moon. Another sound, closer this time. Jack relaxed. If someone would like to attack him, he would not use the main path to his front door or be so loud. A black figure appeared at the rim of the clearing. Jack snorted at the sight of the black scotch terrier wearing a hiker's outfit and a walking stick.

"Hey, Frederick!", Jack shouted, "I think you forgot to remove the price tags from your outfit!"

The dog that most animals just know as "D" flinched a bit as he hadn't heard his real name shouted out that loud for over a decade. But here in the wilderness, no one cared, not even the chief executive officer of the Secret Service. D snorted when he sat down on the bench next to his old friend.

"Man, I really hope you have something to drink in that pigsty you dare to call a house!", he grunted.

"Just spring water, but it's fresh, I got it just an hour ago! Do you want a glass or should I bring it in a bowl so you can slobber it canine style?"

"Glass, please. Jack, I don't get it. I know your salary down to the last penny, you are filthy rich, why do you live here in the middle of nowhere, with no power, no heating, no water?"

Jack walked in the hut, then came out with two glasses of water.

"I bet those shrink heads in the psycho department of yours have told you why", he just said.

D sipped the water slowly. "Ahhh, that's good! Of course they did. They want me to sack you for years, they say you are getting more and more 'instable'."

"So, why don't you do it?"

"What, sack you? No way. I need you to take the trash out of this world. You may have your faults, but you're still my best agent."

"Don't tell me you walked 16 miles from the next village just to smear some honey on my ears, cause I won't believe it!", Jack grunted.

D laughed, it sounded like barking, "You are right in two ways. I came by helicopter, it dropped me off only far enough so your ridiculously keen ears couldn't hear. And, of course, I didn't put all the effort just for chatting."

"You could have used my communicator. I still check for new messages – every other week, or so."

D drank more water, "Fuck, this place is so desolate, I need to reposition some satellites to get a signal through." He rummaged in his pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper.

"What is this shit?", he asked.

Jack took one look. "This is my final report of that ZPD training waste of time – as you know quite well."

"I can read myself, thanks a lot. But I couldn't believe _what_ I read. Jack Savage, Mr Perfect, Mr No-one-can-reach-my-level had wrote, and I quote, 'Some officers of ZPD are well trained in all sort of necessary talents and are recommended for taking over missions'! And here, you wrote…"

"Fred, don't waste my time, I know pretty well what I wrote there, your psychos told you, I'm just insane, not senile! I thought you would be glad as that otter with the unpronouncable name rubbing her ass on the mayor's chair wanted this training to be a big success!"

"Yeah, you bet, the mayor was excited when I gave her the test results, she nearly peed herself. But you awarded 98% to that Wilde cop girl… who is, by some strange coincident, a bunny just like you… don't tell me you developed feelings on your old days…"

Jack looked the other way.

"She is not like me, not at all… she is married, by the way", Jack mumbled.

"Yeah… to a fox, for crying out loud. Hell, this place is going to the dogs, sorry, the pun was intended. Bunny girls becoming cops, marrying foxes…"

Jack became angry, "Fuck, Fred, what do you want? She is very good at what she does so who cares what species she is and who she is married to? She had solved a bunch of cases, hell, she solved her first case fresh from the academy, with no ressources, not even connected to the ZPD computer system while she was assigned on parking duty! When she wears all her decorations she looks like a fucking christmas tree!"

D looked at the snorting bunny in front of him. He took the report and put it back in his pocket.

"So, then, are you ready to hear about your new mission?"

"Will you just go and leave me alone if I say no?"

D sighed and handed over a tiny microchip.

"Everything you need to know is stored here, I think you still know how to connect it to your communicator and unscramble it. Your target is Viktor Maybach."

"Maybach?", Jack asked surprised, " _The_ Viktor Maybach? That rich industrial tycoon who owns half of Europe and is living in a container village in Antarctica? Do you want me to kill him?"

"Not necessarily. At least not until we found out what he is doing and why. And by the way, the place where he lives is no longer a container village. It is a huge city and he is living in a palace."

"But as far as I know we have closed the case on him!", Jack said.

"Yes, that's what everyone should believe. And now we are coming to the true reason why I shlapped all the way out here. We tried to smuggle agents in his secret ice palace. The first one was disclosured before he even reached the shore, they threw him out and gave him a warning. Then, we managed to get Agent Lyra on a ship, disguised as a cook… she vanished and we never heard from her again."

"I knew her. She was quite good, I wonder what had happened."

"Yeah, we all do. The next one was Agent Peabody – we found his body off the coast of Carnivora."

"Fuck. He still owes me ten bucks. Lyra and Peabody… they were both pretty good. So, you think we have a mole in the Service?"

"Maybe. That's why I closed the case. We two are the only animals knowing about your mission. You will get no support from the Service whatsoever. Officially, I'm putting you on sick leave!"

Jack laughed out loud, "What for?"

"Mental instability. Everyone who knows you will believe it."

"You bet. When should I start?"

D lifted both paws, "Heck, I don't want to know when, I don't want to know how. Just one condition: Use the ZPD cops!"

"Are you insane? Why should I take those rookies on a dangerous mission like that?"

"Because no one will expect this. They are no agents, so they can't get uncovered. And when they screw up… well, it's not our fault then. I can put the blame on Bogo and the mayor will stop peskering me about this team work crap."

They sat silently for quite some time, while Jack's mind was racing with plans. After ten minutes, a strategy has formed inside his head. He took a look at his boss.

"How's Bea doing?", he asked finally.

The face of the scotch terrier became dark, "Not good. There are times when she doesn't recognize me any more."

Jack gulped. After a minute he said, "And the doctors can do nothing?"

"No. It's far too deep in her brain.", D said with a dry voice. A single tear ran down his well trimmed moustache.

"Shit, Fred, I'm so sorry…"

"Jack, she used to love you so much… for her you were the son we never had. Hey, remember when she talked us into swimming in that lake on Christmas Eve? Shit, I still shiver when I think about it!"

"Yeah, that was so cold!"

D stood up and wiped his face. Without another word he walked away, but after some steps he turned around.

"Jack? Take care. I don't want to lose another agent. And… Bea is not the only one thinking of you as a son."

Jack just nodded. Sometimes any word is one word too much. Silently, he waited til his boss in his awful hiking costume vanished behind the trees.

"At least, I won't need to cut more fire wood!", he sighed.

Four days later, on a Saturday, the Wilde family had spent a great evening in a restaurant. Bren, a close friend of Judy and Nick [refer to 'Prey and Prejudice'] had joined them, together with Kitty MacMahon, Bogo's assistant. Jenny and Ember, their partners, had come, too. They had all been in a restaurant that had specialized on kids, so it had been a rather loud evening. Jenny and Ember got along quite well, even though they were so different, especially in character. It turned out that Ember had a quite hard childhood, too. Judy was happy that Jenny had found a friend. She had gained a lot of confidence and Judy was sure she would become a great cop.

It was close to midnight when Nick opened the door to their apartment and the two fox cubs stormed in yelling. Judy chased the kids through all rooms, trying to get them to bed, while Nick retreated in the living room for a quick look on the soccer results. Just when he had turned on the TV, Keira rushed in the room. She stopped and pointed at Nick, her eyes wide in surprise.

"What's wrong, honey?", Nick grinned.

"Dad, there is a white tiger bunny right behind you!", Keira gasped.

Nick laughed, "Yeah, behind you, too, dear. You will do everything to avoid going to bed, won't you?"

"No, dad, really!"

"I would listen to your cub, if I were you!", a dark voice behind Nick said.

Nick turned around, "What the…"

Jack Savage sat in the big chair, dark suit with tie, a drink in his paw.

"What are you… how did you get in here?", Nick said.

Jack got out of the chair and looked around, "I must say, I obviously underestimated the income of a police officer… this place is not cheap. Don't worry, Nick, your security system is very professional, even I needed 45 seconds to hack it. Your whiskey, on the other hand, is awful, but what did I expect from a fox…"

Before Nick could come up with a retort, a red furry projectile hit Jack and the glass flew out of his paw and smashed on the floor. Keira had a firm grip of Jack's leg. Jack tried to hold her off by pressing his paw against her fore head, but suddenly she lifted her head and her elongated snout closed around his paw. Razorsharp fangs cut deep in his flesh and Jack couldn't help but let out a loud moan.

Judy came running in the room after she heard the glass fall on the floor.

"What in the name of… Keira! Let him go! Stop biting!"

Keira obeyed and turned around. Her face was smeared with blood.

"He insulted dad! No one insults my dad! And he was breaking and entering!", she said gasping, "Do you want me to kill him?"

"No!" yelled Judy and Nick added "Not yet."

Jack got his handkerchief out and wrapped it around his bleeding paw.

"Hospitality is quite low in here…", he said.

"Well, what did you expect?", hissed Judy, "You came in here, frightening the kids…"

"I have no fear!", shouted Keira immediately. Leia, on the other hand, had hidden behind her mom, sobbing.

"Nick, bring the kids to bed! Jack, show me your paw. I'll handle this!"

Nick took Leia on his arm and pressed her her head against his shoulders.

"Well, well, dear, stop crying. Jack is just an old friend with some strange ideas, he won't harm you…"

Keira hissed at Jack, "You have scared my sister! I will not forgive you! Dad, I don't think it's a good idea leaving mom alone with this jerk, bring Leia to bed, I'll stay with her!"

"No, you won't!", said Judy, "Go with your father! Now! And wash your face and brush your fangs!"

"Come, sweetie, I think mom is able to handle this guy", Nick added.

Reluctantly, Keira followed Nick, but not without saying, "Mom, call me when he's bothering you! I can easily kill him, no problem, he is just a tiny bunny!"

"Out!", shouted Judy.

She got a first aid kit and took Jack's paw. When she touched him, electric currents shot from under his skin into his brain and long forgotten feelings were unearthed. Even so, Jack noticed that this was not at all a romantic moment, Judy was quite pissed and handled him rather rough.

"Hold still! Stop making noises, you're supposed to be a tough super agent, for crying out loud!"

"She definitely have guts, your dau… the kid.", Jack said and immediately knew he made a big mistake. Judy's claws popped out of her paw, hurting his paw even more.

"Do you have a problem calling her my daughter?", she said, her voice dangerously dark and threatening, "Because she _is_ my daughter, without any doubt, make no mistake about that!"

"Yeah, okay, okay, your daughter, all right! Stop piercing me with your claws, will you?"

"Sorry. But don't expect me to apologize for her biting you, because it was your fault alone. Why didn't you call before you came? You could have joined us for dinner, we had some friends…"

"Judy, sorry, but I didn't went through all the hassle for some nice evening conversation. I am on a mission! And no one is allowed to know that I'm in town!"

For the first time, the anger vanished from Judy's eyes and the huge purple globes fixed him admiringly.

"A mission? A _secret_ mission? How cool is that? Tell me all about it… oh, sorry, when this is so secret, you probably are not allowed to tell… or you have to kill me afterwards…" She giggled and that giggle alone was compensating Jack for all the pain.

"That's exactly what I'm here for."

"What, to kill me?", she asked teasingly.

"No, of course not, I'm here to fill you in on the mission. I need your help. Well, yours and Nick's, to be precise."

"Cool! Count us in! Wait, when do we start? The kids are having their theatre play at kindergarten next Thursday and…"

"You have two weeks before we leave. Nick even three and a half…"

"We are not going together?"

"Well, not exactly… let's say we'll take different routes. I'll explain as soon as Nick comes back, otherwise I would need to tell everything twice."

They waited for twenty minutes before Nick entered the living room. Judy had finished Jack's bandage and wiped the whiskey and blood off the wooden floor and had thrown the shards in the trash.

"They are finally asleep. It was a very dumb idea to…", Nick started.

"Yeah, yeah, I noticed. I am sorry. To be honest, I haven't thought about the kids being with you that late. I got what I deserved", he lifted up his bandaged paw.

"Nick, Jack wants to take us on one of his secret missions!", Judy blurted out excited.

"Great", Nick said without any enthusiasm, "and what about the kids? How long will we be absent?"

Jack sighed, "I can't tell. Because I don't know. These missions, there is no time frame, I never knew if it's two days or five weeks…"

"Five weeks? Impossible! How do you guys handle this? Has no agent friends, kids or family?", asked Judy.

"As a matter of fact, no, we don't have. It's the price you have to pay. I leave it up to you to figure out your private affairs. And you can decline, of course. Needless to say, you are not allowed to talk to anyone about that, no matter how you decide."

Nick and Judy took a long look at each other.

"Okay, shoot!", said Nick.

Jack reached inside his jacket and Nick immediately jerked up, "Hell, I meant…"

"I know, I know!", grinned Jack, "Relax, I don't even have a gun with me…" He pulled out an expensive looking fountain pen and removed the cap.

"You need some paper?", Judy asked, but Jack pressed a hidden button and Nick's ears heard a click and a shrill humming sound. Jack placed the pen on the table and a red laser point appeared on the wall. Suddenly, the point went up til it reached the ceiling, then down to the rim of the sideboard, then left and right and vanished. A second later, a big sharp image of a bunny appeared, exactly the same size as the white wall.

"Wow!", said Nick, "I need one of these, must be great to watch a soccer game on it…"

Jack cleared his throat.

"The bunny you see here is Viktor Maybach, 44 years old, from Germany. He inherited a big fortune from his dad and managed to quadruple it in only two years. Car factories, oil fields, mines, cell phone companies, internet firms… name it, he has it. We estimate his fortune to be some 750 billion Zootopia dollars. He is a genius, speaks over twenty languages fluently, four doctor titles, three of them 'summa cum laude'. In 2009, he even was chess world champion. Wrote over thirty books, mostly on engineering and trading, but also some weird pseudo science stuff, I'll get back later to this.

"In 2010 he made a deal with Carnivora, a south american country mainly inhabited by preds, rather fragile government. They practically sold him a huge piece of their share of Antarctica."

"But I thought, Antarctica does not belong to any country?", interjected Judy.

Jack nodded, "Officially yes, but there is a contract that gives the wealthy countries some rights on certain parts… wait…"

He snapped his fingers and the picture of Maybach was replaced with a map of Antarctica. From the South Pole lines extended due North, so the continent looked like a pie. Even though, the pieces had different sizes.

"That small section here, for example, is under control of Zootopia. There a two stations there, manned by scientists during the summer months, which are our winter months, only. This big piece here", he pointed to the map, "belongs to Carnivora but they never had used it for anything… until Maybach came. They sold him this part…", he encircled a portion of the pie piece.

"Looks like an island…", Nick said.

"Don't let the chart scale fool you, it's more like a subcontinent…", Jack said, "This 'island' has half the size of Europe. It had no name, but Maybach calls it 'Burrow of Inle' – no one knows what that's supposed to mean…"

Both Judy and Nick grinned at him, "Well, we know!", said Judy.

"Yeah, it means, the Secret Service has the same problem with old mammal languages that the ZPD once had!", added Nick.

When Jack looked puzzled, Judy explained.

"We once had an unsolved case, Nick and me, there was a clue no one could decipher until we found out by pure coincidence that the word belonged to Lapine, the ancient language of bunnies [refer to 'Prey and Prejudice' for more details]. When we finally cracked that riddle, it was too late. Two mammals died. That was when we decided to learn Lapine and Vulpine, the old languages of our species. Maybe we could have saved them", Judy ended with a dry voice.

"Yes…", Jack said slowly, "Horst and Britta Lapsa. The real parents of the kids you two adopted."

Nick and Judy looked at him open mouthed. "How do you know about that?!"

"They are one reason why I want you two to join me… but let me continue, I'll get back to that later, I promise. But first tell me what you know about the 'Burrow of Inle'"

Judy nodded in Nick's direction, "You tell him, you are the expert in Lapine!"

"The word inle means moon in Lapine, but when you get in the mystic level, it also means death. According to bunny lore, bunnies do not simply die, they are collected by the 'black bunny of Inle', the lapine form of the grim reaper. And his burrow is the underworld, the place where you go after your death."

"So, you tell me that Maybach called his island 'The Underworld'… a place where the dead go?"

"Basically, yes", Nick nodded.

"Well, I am impressed. Obviously, you are right, we really need experts on old languages in the Secret Service. This, however", he snapped his fingers again, "is a satellite picture of that very island, taken in early 2010, eight weeks after Maybach made the deal. The small dots here are some twenty containers, kind of mobile homes. Maybach lived there, together with five of his employees."

"A strange place to live for a billionnaire!", Nick said.

"It gets even stranger. Here is a picture taken two months ago, in September 2018."

"Wow, this looks like a fucking city!"

"Yes. This large complex here is Maybach's residence. A palace with everything you can imagine, nearly 500,000 square feet of pure luxury. Then, look at this large rectangle in the East, a single building of more than 6 million square feet, 150 feet high… at least that's what we see. We tried to get infrared pictures, but our experts are not sure, some estimated up to 10 sub levels."

"What the heck is he doing there?", asked Nick.

"That's it. We don't know", answered Jack, "Officially, he had registered the building as 'production site', but we don't know what he produces there, not even if he produces anything at all."

"What is this?", Judy pointed at an area South of the main facility, "It looks like a big hole in the ground…"

Jack nodded, "That's the mine. We think that this is the main reason for creating a huge industrial complex on a remote island. Maybach had filed an official request with the government of Carnivora to exploit Neodym."

"Neo-what?", Judy asked.

Jack got a small test tube out of his pocket, opened it and shook a small cube in Nick's paw. Nick held the cube up and let Judy look at it. It was a metal of silver color. It had patches of slightly pink color. When Nick scratched with his claw, a pink flake fell off.

"You should collect the flake and put it back in here", Jack advised.

"Is it dangerous?", Jady asked.

"Not directly, but it may ignite. And your kids should better not swallow it."

"And what's so special about this stuff?"

"Neodym is a so-called rare earth metal. The name, however, is misleading, it is much more common than gold, but you normally don't find a lot of it in one place. And it's quite a hassle to separate it from other elements and purify it. But it is needed to build modern electronic devices, as you can build the strongest magnets with Neodym. Your TV set, your smartphones, all contain some nanograms of Neodym. This tiny cube is worth 500 bucks, a kilogram is currently 300,000 dollars."

Nick whistled.

"Our experts at the Secret Service have made spectrographic analysis of the last satellite picture I showed you before", continued Jack, "and they estimated that Maybach had produced 1,300 tons of Neodym."

Nick whistled again, "That's 390 billion dollars!"

"You are quick with numbers", said Jack.

"Only when it's about money!", Judy added grinning, "However, 1,300 tons doesn't sound much…"

"Yes, but if this value is correct, Maybach would produce 60 percent of the yearly worldwide amount!"

"So he is dictating the price…"

Jack sighed, "And this is the problem… he's not! Not a single gram was sold!"

"Maybe he is storing it to flood the market at a later time…"

"Maybe, but this makes not a lot of sense. The industry is only needing a certain amount of Neodym and a flooding would lower the price. The Secret Service fears he is using the entire Neodym for his own production."

Judy shrugged, "But what is he producing with all that stuff?"

Jack lent back in the chair, "That's the problem. We have no idea. Something electronic, where strong magnets need to be used, a new engine, a spaceship… could be anything!"

Judy had got up and was looking closely at the picture projected on the wall. She pointed at the northern tip of the island, where a huge pier could be seen.

"What is this here, next to the pier? Looks like a tourist resort, with pools and stuff…"

"You're right, it is indeed a tourist resort!", Jack said.

"What? A tourist resort in Antarctica?", Nick shook his head.

"Maybach has a cruise line, big luxurious ships. For two years now, he offers 'adventure trips to Antarctica' as he is calling it. You book a cruise from Europe or America down to Antarctica, stay two weeks in a fancy hotel, then cruise back. Not much of an adventure if you ask me, but it's quite hard to get tickets, so mammals seem to love it."

"Wait, wait", said Nick, "I've seen all James Bond movies, rich eccentric billionaire creates a remote secret hideout where he has an evil plan for world domination, so far, so good; but I never heard that someone would build a fucking tourist resort right next to it!"

"My dear Nick, real agent work has not much to do with James Bond movies, believe me.", grinned Jack.

Judy shook her head, "I still don't get it. Why does the Secret Service want to investigate this? I bet there are a lot companies who have secret production facilities where they plan their newest products away from competitor's eyes…"

"Correct, but our friend Viktor has shown… let's call it 'strange point of views' in recent time and we think he might be up to no good."

"For example?", said Nick.

Jack snorted, "It's a long list… okay, let's start with the fact that he had written a book where he said, that predators are superior to prey animals and should rule the world."

"Strange for a bunny to say this…", said Judy.

"Preds are making 10% of the population. The unemployment rate of preds is three times as high as for prey animals. However, in Maybachs companies, 94% of the employees are predators. Currently, more than 4,000 mammals are officially living in Antarctica with him as his employees and here the rate is 100% - not a single prey, except himself, of course! He finances hundreds of programs just for predators, even beauty contests!

"Second, he has a strong fascination for myths, legends and stuff we would call conspiracy theories… especially for the strangest and most legendary mammal… have you ever heard of… humans?"


	7. Chapter 7 - Humans, Scientists and

**Chapter 7 – Humans, Scientists and Beauty Queens**

Nick threw back his head and burst out in laughter, while Judy looked confused.

"Oh, please", chocked Nick, wiping a tear out of his left eye, "Don't tell me that super-rich, wise-ass, quadruple-doctor billionaire is believing in a fairy tale like this! Humans! Heck, even my conspiracy-loving friend Honey Badger was thinking that this one was hilarious!"

Jack waited silently until Nick had recovered.

Judy shrugged, "I never heard of jumans…"

"Humans", corrected Nick, "and you know them, honey bunny, remember that old sci-fi movie from the sixties we saw some weeks ago? 'Planet of the Humans'?"

Judy nodded, "With that space craft that landed on a planet, in the end it came out it was _our_ planet, but it was inhabited by these strange aliens… when I remember correctly, the astrodog had just traveled back in time but not in space… but that was just a movie and the human, well, it was Karlton Preston in an ugly costume, he had no fur…"

Jack sighed, "Yes, but of course, Viktor Maybach does not believe in that stupid movie. What do you now about primates?"

Judy folded her paws like a school girl and started to explain, "Primates, sometimes called apes, are a sub-species of mammals. Most scientists believe, that they were the first mammals getting sapient, you know, using tools, walking on their hind legs, using their front paws for work… but suddenly, about 30,000 years ago, they got extinct, no one knows why… about this time, other mammals started to develop skills and got sapient… and here we are, using micro-waves and cell phones!"

Jack nodded, "Correct, this is what you can read in the books. But there are certain controversies among scientists. First thing is, primates vanished literally from one day to another. In 1939, scientists found the skeleton of a primate in Europe, at first they classified it as a furless chimp with genetic defects, a mutant. But some scientists claimed that it belongs to a new species, dubbed humans. More and more skeletons were discovered and in 2001 one russian scientist claimed he had found a human skeleton with gold fillings in his teeth, 32,000 years old. But when that scientist held a press conference he was bare-pawed, he said the skeleton had been stolen the night before."

"How convenient!", grinned Nick.

"Immediately, the conspiracy theorists crawled out, yelling foul play. In 2004, Maybach published a book where he explicitly said that humans had not only lived on this planet, but that they had built a civilization comparable to ours. He said he had proof that they even travelled to space and landed on the moon!"

Nick shook his head, "Every cub learns at school that mammals can't leave our planet. The radiation in space outside the protecting atmosphere would kill us within hours. That's why all space craft we built are unmammed."

"In 2009, Maybach spent 200 million bucks on a rocket, that reached the outer rim of the atmosphere. Before it fell back to Earth, a high res camera took some pictures of a certain region on the moon, called Sea of Tranquility."

He snapped his fingers and a new picture appeared.

"This is one of it. Look over here…"

"A white dot. Can be anything", Nick said, still grinning.

Jack snapped again, and the picture zoomed it on the white dot.

"Great!" Nick yawned, " _Three_ white dots, one big, two small."

"The big one is only 4 pixels in diameter, equalling 27 ft or 9 meters. Maybach called it a landing device."

Nick squinted his eyes and looked closer. "That could be anything, as I said. Probably remains of our own moon orbiters from the 70s, that crashed down on the surface."

Judy nodded, "Yeah, it's like that pic from the Mars surface, remember, that mountain that looked like a strange face? Later, when they made another pic with higher resolution, it turned out to be a normal mountain."

"Yes", said Jack, "that's what's called pareidolia. Mammals try to overlay random structures with things they know. That's why we see images in the clouds."

Judy yawned. "But I still do not see where Maybach sees a conspiracy here…"

"Maybach says in his book that our governments know all about humans and their civilization. They are holding back the technologies, just releasing them as mammals own inventions as they see fit. So our civilization is just a carbon copy of the civilization the humans had built long time ago. He says, it's time for a new world, a new government, predators ruling over prey using human technologies."

"How can he say that, he himself being prey?", asked Nick.

"He sees himself not as prey. He says he had been born in a wrong body, he's living on a carnivore's diet…"

"This is so disgusting!", interrupted Judy.

"Okay, we know now that this guy is a complete wacko, but I still don't think that he is worth a mission, what do you think we should do? Go to Antarctica, asking him about some mystical naked apes? He needs psychiatric help, that's what I think."

Jack snapped his fingers yet again and a photo appeared on the wall. It showed a huge building, a group of animals stood in front of them posing for a group picture.

"This shot is 10 years old and has been taken in front of the Zootopia University Institute of Advanced Sciences, where our friend studied for two years. He is the guy standing in the second row, far left. But you may be more interested in the mammals in the third row, dead center."

Judy gasped, "Oh my god, the fox! I know him, it's Horst Lapsa…"

Nick nodded, "… and there, three mammals to the right, that's his wife Britta… or future wife, to be exact, if the pic is 10 years old, it's… let's see… two years before they got married."

"Correct, she still went by the name Britta Arnold then…", said Jack, and switched to the next picture. Horst and Britta were sitting at a table in what looked like a restraurant. Maybach stood behind them, one paw on each's shoulder.

"So, they knew each other. Why do you show us these pics?"

"He did not just know the parents of your twins… we could connect him to sixteen scientists, they all worked as contractors for the City Council. And I think you two know perfectly well on what they have worked on."

Judy nodded, "Tame collars! We closed the case some four years ago as we had nothing to follow. We should talk to the remaining mammals on the list!"

"Too late. Ten of them are dead, either murdered, like the Lapsas, or killed by freak accidents… the rest had vanished!"

"Vanished? All of them? But this must have caused some investigations…", said Nick.

"No. They all came from different places, and everything what they did when they were paid by the City Council was top secret, so no one made the connection until we stumbled over it recently. We are suspecting Maybach of holding at least four of them in Antarctica! With all his talk about pred domination our experts think he might work on a new version of the tame collar!"

Nick and Judy just looked at each other, both minds were racing and no one said a word.

"But they are not the only ones who got stuck down there…", Jack snapped again and a montage of eight pictures appeared.

"Wow!", exclaimed Nick and Judy kicked his shin. The montage showed eight beautiful grils striking poses.

"Among literally hundreds of other activities, Maybach holds several beauty contests all over the continent. These girls have all won. All eight are preds, between 16 and 19 years old, all won a trip to the Antarctica resort… and none of them came back!"

"This can't be! Why haven't we heard anything about that?"

"Because they all wrote letters to their families, claiming that Maybach had offered them a great job and that they would like to stay down there for good. And really, they all have work contracts and the IRS in Carnivora had them registered…"

"So no foul play here, even if this is quite unusual…", said Nick.

Jack nodded, "Very unusual, to be exact. Look at that one", he pointed to a lynx with bright green eyes wearing a small bikini and smiling sassily in the camera, "Agnieszka Lapinska, 16 years young, from Gdansk, Poland… she was only 14 when she won, gave a wrong birth date as contestants had to be at least 16… she ran away from home to participate. Dropped out of school, very bad grades, lots of trouble, criminal records for theft, robbery, assault… she is not the brightest light, everyone who knew her said that, but as soon as she landed on Antarctica, she became…"

He snapped again and a tax form appeared on the screen. Judy and Nick read the form, Nick laughed out, "Her job title is 'Senior Account Manager'! And she is sixteen and makes 166,000 bucks a year!"

"That's not all. Here is a letter she wrote to her parents, it's in Polish, of course, but our translator says, that she made more than sixty mistakes in these 250 words. She says, she is getting 700,000 bucks benefit for her excellent work. She had sent half of it to her parents, but they called the police anyway as even they think that there must be something afoot. The police in Poland couldn't do anything as getting overpaid is not illegal, so they contacted us, and we tried to talk to family members of the other girls, but they all don't want to react. They are all rather poor, that's another thing all the girls have in common, and the money the girls sent home is much appreciated and quiets down all doubts they might have."

Finally, Jack turns off his projecting pen and put it back in his pocket. It was now nearly 5 am in the morning.

"We should continue tomorrow", Jack said, "We need to do quite a lot of planning things."

"Do you want to sleep here?", asked Judy, "It's no big deal, we have a guest room with a huge bed."

Jack had planned to walk around the city all night, as he didn't want to leave any traces by checking in a hotel. Judy's offer caught him off guard and he hesitated. He looked at Nick but the fox nodded, saying, "Yeah, cool idea, we could have breakfast, the kids will stay at my dad's so we have the entire day…"

"Well, that's… that's very friendly, but I don't think…"

"Well, I insist!", said Judy resolute, "The second door to the left. There is a bathroom right next to it. Careful, there might be some toys from the kids, they sometimes play in that room, but otherwise you should be comfortable. Wait, I'll bring you some towels."

Fifteen minutes later, Jack was snuggled up in a warm and comfortbale bed, under the same roof as Judy. He noticed how tired he was, he hadn't had decent sleep for three days. _They will not be so friendly when I tell him what I have planned_ he thought, _Especially that fox will probably strangle me…_


	8. Chapter 8 - Travel Plans

**Chapter 8 – Travel Plans**

Jack hated to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he was afraid of the dreams that might haunt him. Two years ago, after that mission that turned his life into shards, nightmares were following him everywhere. He didn't need one of the shrinkheads from the psycho department, he knew perfectly well what PTSD was, but none of these doctors would ever understand what he was feeling. Since he met Judy, however, there had been some nights where he could remember things without being pained by constant remorse.

 _There she was again, that special girl that had never for a single second treated him like a meek bunny, a little inferior prey. Her wonderful, soft fur, so thick, so brilliant, white like the purest snowflake shimmering in the hot desert sun, her eyes, huge, almond shaped and pitch black, her voice, so dark, so full of tenderness… she was right in front of him, he never had seen her that close in a dream before, but of course he knew he was dreaming, he had seen her dying two years before, had to watch her beautiful eyes becoming two dead marbles when her soul escaped from her body._

 _But this was so real, he could feel her weight on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe, he could feel her paw on his throat, soft, caressing, he could even smell her scent, that wild mix of fragrances that tingled his flight instinct, but today in his dream it was different… it smelled different… he forced himself to…_

… open his eyes and there she was, he had smelled her for real, her elongated snout nearly touching his twitching nose, while she looked in his eyes with her bright blue ones… WAIT, WHAT?

In a split second, Jack was wide awake, the weight on his chest was real, the smell was real, but he was not looking at someone with snow white fur and pitch black eyes, her fur was red instead, her eyes bright blue and she wore a pajama with cartoon princesses from the movie Floatzen on it…

In the door of the guest room stood a carbon copy of the vixen on his chest, giggling.

"You did not kiss him, sis, you owe me a quarter now…"

"Aww, Leia, that does not count, I was distracted, his nose is twitching exactly like mom's before she wakes up…", said the vixen kneeling on his chest. Her paw was still on his throat, directly on his aorta, her wet nose just a millimeter away from his own… she gave him a most malicious smile, "Rise'n'shine, tiger bunny…"

Jack grabbed her and lifted her out of his bed, then jumped out himself, checking his watch: 8.14 am, not even 4 hours of sleep… he was just wearing a pair of boxers, which earned him a curious look.

"Wow! Look at his cool stripes! Told ya, he's some kind of weird tiger bunny… and look at his scars! So cool! They look even worse than dad's… and his fur is so thick and fluffy… hey, tiger bunny, can I have your fur when you are dead?"

"Eww, Keira, you're so disgusting…", said the vixen standing in the door.

Jack rubbed his eyes, "I try to remember to make a remark in my will…", he mumbled.

"Cool!", Keira grinned.

"KEIRA! LEIA!", Judy's voice echoed through the apartment, "Where are you? You're better not pestering our guest!"

"Uh-oh…", Leia said, but before the twins could try any evasive maneouvers, a furious bunny stormed the room. After his dream and the unusual way to wake up, Jack just had been on the edge of stabilizing his state of mind, when his visual nerves hit his fragile brain yet again: Judy, who had obviously jumped out of bed just seconds ago, was just wearing a tiny slip and a sport bra. Her shimmering grey fur was ruffled, her left ear was drooping, she had slept on it. All details, her slender figure, her marvellous hips, her small but perfect breasts, her muscular belly, her short, powerful legs with the long slim feet, her unkempt tail, burned into Jack's retinas. Her nose was twitching with anger.

"How dare you two little… OUT! At once! Waking up our guest! And in peejays!"

She turned to Jack and her look out of her purple eyes doubled his heart rate.

"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry… normally, they behave quite well, but I don't know what's gotten into them…"

"Hey, no problem… I got ripped out of sleep much worse, believe me…"

Half an hour later Jack entered the spacious kitchen that was about twice the size of his hut and was greeted by Nick who stood at the coffee machine. "Morning, Jack. Strong?", he pointed at the machine.

"Very!", Jack answered, "Hope your night was better than mine."

The twins were dressed in jeans and sweaters. One of them pointed at a chair.

"Here, tiger bunny, you may sit down next to me…"

"Not fair!", shouted the other one, "I wanted to sit next to him!"

"But yesterday you were so afraid of him, you even cried!"

"And you? You said you would never forgive him, you even bit him!"

"I changed my mind!"

"Well, me too!"

Nick shook his head, "Must be great to be so popular! You should be honored, they normally don't accept strangers that fast. And Keira", he turned to his daughter, "Stop calling him that. His name is Jack, you know."

"But he looks like a tiger bunny!"

"And you look like an old red toilet brush and we still call you Keira!", Nick said.

"That was mean, dad!"

"Mean, but honest!", smirked Nick, "Sit down and be quiet, dear!"

The little vixen frowned, but obeyed.

Judy entered the kitchen wearing a ZPD jogging suit and rubbing her ears with a towel.

"I hope you two have apologized to Jack!", she said.

"Really, Judy, no problem, they didn't…", started Jack, but Leia intervened.

"It was Keira's fault she wanted to kiss him…"

"KEIRA!", yelled Judy, but the mentioned girl jumped up immediately.

"Not true! Leia dared me to kiss him! It was a bet! For a quarter! Why should I want to kiss that bloke, I know how he tastes, I had a good bite out of him just yesterday…"

"Yeah, but you _like_ him, you wanted to know how it feels to smooch him…", Leia went on teasing.

"As if! And by the way, I _know_ how it feels, I've kissed boys before!"

"WHAT?", Judy screamed.

Leia smirked, a good copy of her father, "Yeah, she kissed _Brad_ …"

"You mean Brad, my little brother?", Judy asked in shock.

"Mom, he is seven years old… he wanted to know how it feels to kiss a fox and he's kinda cute, so I…"

"They used tongues!", Leia shrieked.

Judy hid her face behind her paws and Nick got loud, "Stop it, both of you! Go into your room and pack your bags, mom will drive you over to grandpa's in two minutes!"

When Judy was gone with the kids, Jack helped Nick cleaning up the kitchen. The fox and the bunny didn't speak a word until they were finished and sat down at the clean table.

"Need a drink?", grinned Nick, but Jack felt the headache rising and declined.

"Yes, but… no, thanks. I don't know how… I mean, I'd like to ask you a question, but I still don't know how to put it…"

Nick shrugged, "Just try!"

"When did you know… you know… that Judy was…"

"You mean, when did I fell in love with her?", grinned Nick.

"Yeah, sort of…"

Nick looked out of the window for some seconds, then sighed.

"Hard to tell. It was definetely not love at first sight. She was angry because everyone treated her like a token bunny, she thought she stood above those prejudices… and then she bullied me just because I am a fox and she thought I was up to no good… but all I wanted was to buy myself a popsickle!"

"And you…"

"Hell, I treated her just the same! You should have seen her, in that meter maid outfit, driving around in a tiny, three-wheeled joke-mobile! She was a typical bunny to me, cute, but small, meek, unimportant, a hillbilly, fresh from the carrot farm! She blackmailed me to help her, they had assigned her the biggest case, wanted her to fail and resign… I was her only witness, her only trace… she saved my life, I saved her life, blah, blah, blah… when she asked me if I want to join the police… well, to be honest, I thought it was a ridiculous idea. A fox – a cop! Everyone thought, foxes are good for nothing, sly, clever, self-focused…"

"And… you were?", asked Jack.

"Hell, yes, I was poster fox number one! But THEY had told Judy just the same: no bunny could become a cop and there she was, a cop, a hero, she had done it! And just in time I remembered _why_ I became that cunning con-artist: My dad and me tried to be different, we wanted to open a pred-prey shop for clothing, my dad is a tailor. But no one supported us, no bank gave us a loan and in the end… well, I decided to fulfill everyone's expectations. But after I considered becoming a cop for some time, I thought, hell, why not? We became partners and before I knew it, she was the center of my life."

Jack sat quietly and just nodded. Then he looked in Nick's eyes, "But she is a bunny. Has it never occured to you…"

"What, that I was not good enough for her?"

"That was not what I wanted to say… but maybe, that a bunny would be better for her… I bet you had quite some issues with you two being different species…"

"You bet. It started with getting a table in a decent restaurant, went on to applying for marriage and did not end with adopting the kids. Without all the help we got from our friends…", Nick said, then he laughed, "I bet, for you it's unthinkable that a bunny could fall in love with a fox!"

 _You don't know how wrong you are, I understand better than you will ever imagine,_ Jack thought, but before he could say anything, the elevator chimed and Judy came in. She sat down at the table and simply said, "Well… what is your plan?"

"The quickest way to get there is flying, of course, but there are a lot of problems; first, we need to fly from Carnivora, a difficult nation full of preds who don't like prey at all… second, when we tried to get aerial pictures, we used drones, but, for some strange reasons we have lost contact with all of them well before they reached the shore. We used a small mammed airplane then, but the pilot vanished with the plane, she didn't even had time for calling. Radar coverage told us, they plane had dropped from the sky. We think, Maybach is using an EMP weapon."

"How does that work?", asked Nick.

"If an Electro Magnetic Pulse is fired at an aircraft, all electronics will be destroyed in a moment. That would also explain the total loss of radio communication."

"What about the cruise ships?", asked Judy.

"The best, but also the most obvious way. We have tried three times to smuggle an agent in, but with no success. One got thrown off the ship in Carnivora, the second vanished, the third was killed. I think, that they check their passengers very thoroughly. We will use another approach. I have booked us all on the next voyage of the MS Germania, the biggest ship of Maybach's line. Made for category C, D and E animals, it has 15,000 passengers on board. The more passengers, the more difficult to check everyone. We will travel as one newlywed couple and one single passenger."

Judy smiled and grabbed Nick's paw.

"Looks like we finally get our honeymoon, sweetheart…"

Nick smiled sadly, "Oh, no, honey bunny, I don't think he arranged it that way… Jack will play your husband!"

Judy looked at Jack full of shock, but Jack nodded.

"No way!", she screamed, "I can't… I can't do that! We need to put up a real good show and I… I could do it much better with Nick as we _are_ a married couple anyway!"

To Jack's surprise, it was Nick who helped him, "Carrots, please, relax for a second and think about it as a cop. A married fox and bunny, we would stick out like a sore thumb… with 15,000 mammals on board there is a good chance some folks from Zootopia reckognize us, our wedding had been covered in the media!"

"But… we will get false identities, won't we? And in Europe there are much more liberal, pred-prey marriages will occur there, too!"

Jack shook his head, "I have checked, there _are_ much more pred-prey marriages than over here, but still, a fox-bunny wedding has never occurred, even there. I will travel as Herr Jakob Kreuzberg, from Germany who just had married a lovely bunny from the United Animal Kingdom, Judith Folkstone, now Judith Kreuzberg. This way we can still call each other Jack and Judy. How is your German?"

"Sorry, I don't speak German", said Judy, still angry.

"Ich ein bißchen", said Nick and Jack lifted his eyebrow.

"Good, even your pronounciation is quite good… but you will travel as Nick Vulpur, from Zootopia."

"Vulpur? That name is so obviously fake…"

"For good reason. You'll travel as a con artist, try to con money out of rich passengers… I'll leave all the details to you", said Jack.

Nick smirked, "I think, I'm up to that role…"

Judy was still pissed, "Fine for you!", she hissed, "While I need to play the wife! Do I at least have a decent job?"

"You have worked as a travel agent, but quit for moving to Germany. As you are still starting to learn the language, we will speak English all the time. I have made a special training years ago, my German is perfect, everyone will believe I am a native. So, currently, you are a housewife!"

"Fuck!", Judy yelled.

"Hey, Carrots, it's just a role you need to play, like in theater…"

"Yeah, but I don't like it. I have never been separated from you…"

"Judy will fly from Zootopia to Frankfurt, Germany in two weeks, using a fake passport. She will change identity on her stop, then take a flight to Hamburg, where the voyage starts, using her new name. I will arrive there two days later, by train. Next morning, we will board the ship. Nine days later, Nick will fly from Zootopia to Ushuaia, Carnivora. He will board the ship there, it's the last stop before Antarctica. We will have no contact on the ship, Judy and I travel in the first class honeymoon suite, while Nick…"

"… yeah, I will have a shitty, inside cabin in third, correct?", Nick growled.

"Correct! Like anyone would expect from a fox."

"Just for the records: I. Don't. Like. It. We will have no contact? But if we need to communicate…"

"This shouldn't be necessary before we arrive in the tourist resort. We have one week there before the ship returns."

"And what will we do there?", asked Judy.

Jack shrugged, "No idea. We will need to make up as we go. We should find a way to sneak somehow out of the resort and into Maybach's residence, find out what his plan is and maybe…"

"You must be joking! No plan? We just march in there and… improvise?", Judy asked bitterly.

"You have a better idea? Let's hear it", said Jack.

"No… but still…"

"Hey, when will we get our gear, you know, all the cool stuff, laser weapons, x-ray glasses…"

"I am sorry, to disappoint you, Nick, but I told you before, secret agent life is not like in the movies. Especially when we are not on an official mission. I am on sick leave, no one knows where I am, so we have no support whatsoever. I just have this…"

He pulled out a cell phone from his bag.

Nick frowned, "Oh, shit, where did you stole that from, a museum? That's not even a smartphone…", he took it out of Jack's paws, "man, this is heavy! Were these old things really that heavy?"

Jack laughed, "No, but this one had some gadgets… I can detect bugs and cameras with it. I can also connect to the internet via VLF, while a fake signal is sent via the ship's WLAN net, surfing for harmless sites, you know, sports results and stuff…"

"VLF?"

"Very Low Frequency", explained Jack, "No one can trace it, but it is extremely slow, you just can send short texts… I will use it in extreme emergency only, I can reach my boss, he is the only one who knows what I'm about to do. We think, someone in our agency is giving information to Maybach's organization…"

"Well, let's hope it's not your boss, then!", sighed Nick.

Jack handed out passports, two for Judy, one for Nick, together with airline tickets.

"You will not see me before we meet in Hamburg, so you…"

"What? I have about a thousand questions…"

He gave Judy an envelope. "Read it. Learn it. Burn it. You won't need more until we met. Nick… take care!"

"You too!", Nick said dryly.

"I leave it to you how you cover your absence with the ZPD. Trust no one!"

"Easy for you to say!", said Judy.

Jack grabbed his bag and marched to the elevator.

"Wait! What is Germany like?"

Jack hesitated. "It's full of dumb, unfriendly mammals, I'm always glad when I'm out of that cursed country. Be careful and trust no one!"

"Great…", said Judy sadly as soon as the elevator doors had closed behind Jack.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Old Fox

**Chapter 9 – The Old Fox**

" _Zootopia Airlines announces arrival of their flight 1470 from Zootopia, non-European mammals are requested to proceed to immigration at gate 66 before claiming baggage…"_

Judy felt pretty much like the carrot farm girl that had arrived in Zootopia four years ago. Frankfurt Airport was one of the largest of the world, every 25 seconds a plane departed or landed. Judy stood at the giant window pane and asked how someone could coordinate all these planes and the thousands of mammals working here. She had travelled first class by the name of Brenda Watson, but Brenda would die here and Judith Kreuzberg would take over. She had sat next to a friendly german business badger who spoke excellent English. He was very funny and time flew literally.

In the past two weeks she had read some books on Europe and Germany and even tried to learn the language, but it was very hard. Jack's instructions had been very brief and she would be on her own during these first two days in a different country.

She already missed the kids and Nick. Leia had cried when they said good bye in the evening before her flight. Keira had played cool, but late at night, she had sneaked in Judy's bed, had pressed her head in Judy's fur. It had still been wet when she had to get up. She had asked Nick to stay at home, she couldn't stand saying good bye to him.

Judy shook her head. She couldn't waste time, she only had two hours before her connecting flight to Hamburg would depart. She held her breath when the immigration officer pressed her fake passport in the scanner, but the computer beeped like it had done for all the others before. She followed the signs "Lavatory/showers" until she reached a series of doors in different sizes. When she inserted a 1 Euro coin in one door, a one hour timer started and the door buzzed open. The shower cabin was much better than she had expected, it had friendly colors and was very clean. She used more coins to get some towels that smelled of desinfectant but were very fluffy.

Judy took out the Brenda Watson passport. In her bag she had a small perfume bottle. She opened it, threw the passport in the sink and poured the liquid over it. She threw the empty bottle in the bin. Nothing seemed to happen, but when she let water pour over the passport it dissolved and she washed it down the sink. From a secret compartment in her bag, she took out a new passport from the United Animal Kingdom on the name Judith Kreuzberg, born Folkstone, and two bottles of permanent fur dye.

Her grey fur would be too conspicious as most bunnies in Europe are brown or white. For her new identity, Jack has chosen a light brown fur color with white ears, partly white face and white belly and paws.

Judy stripped and stuffed her clothes in a plastic bag. She would later throw it in a bin on the airport. She had pinned a drawing of her body on the mirror; that's what she needed to look like. The photo in her new passport had been photoshopped to her new appearance, she just hoped the colors would come out the same. She read the instructions, showered and applied first the brown then the white color. She waited for half an hour, shivering as it was quite cold. Then she took another hot shower to wash the remaining color off. She showered until the water remained clean, then she dried herself with the towels, checking if the color stayed on.

When she looked in the mirror, she was surprised: she looked completely different in brown and white. Satisfied with the result, she put on new clothes. She opened a small case containing two contact lenses as her purple colored eyes might give her away. She fidgeted until she had both lenses in. Now her eyes were dark brown.

"Guten Tag, ich heiße Judith Kreuzberg!", she rehearsed in front of the mirror. The last name was so difficult to pronounce! She said it again and again until she was satisfied. Then, as last step of her transfiguration, she put a golden wedding ring on her right paw as it was custom in Europe. In Zootopia, nearly no one had wedding rings.

When she left the shower she had the unpleasant feeling that everyone stared at her new color, that everyone knew what she was planning. She walked to the counter of the german airline, showed her passport and her ticket. The girl behind the corner was a young bunny, very nervous and giggly, she reminded Judy on one of her sisters. Judy froze, when the girl inserted her ticket in the reading device and an alarm went off. But the bunny tried again, after turning the ticket around – and it worked.

"Tut mir leid – ist mein erster Tag heute!", she giggled and Judy understood that she was on her first day.

"Kein Problem!", Judy answered, using a phrase she had learned from Nick – no problem!

The connecting flight was just an hour long, then Judy had to take an underground train to the city center of Hamburg where her hotel was.

She was rather tired but couldn't help to notice the first big differences to the life in Zootopia. She saw bunnies everywhere, she had read that bunnies made up 35 percent of Germany population. As most mammals here were smaller, everything was smaller – the tables, chairs, desks, cars… in Zootopia, Judy often felt like a dwarf, but here, without any giraffes, elephants, tigers and lions, she felt more like in Bunny Burrows. And so many foxes! The hotel was medium sized, but has a quite familiar atmosphere, the rooms were bright and nice. She threw her bag on the floor (Jack had told her just to bring stuff for the first two days as he would arrange the big luggage for the cruise) and rolled in the bed.

The long flight and the jet lag were pulling on her, the bed was cozy and comfortable, but Judy wanted to explore that old city that was so different from the modern Zootopia. Here it was 1 pm, Nick would still sleep as it was 5 am in Zootopia.

She took a long look at the phone, but calling him was out of question. She had left her smartphone at home as it could give away her true identity.

"I'll see him in eleven days…", she whispered, but that was not completely true – he would be on the ship, but they would travel in different classes, so the chance of seeing him was slim.

Before she could get sad, she grabbed her Hamburg travel guide and looked for sights to see close to her hotel. This city with over 1,600 years of colorful history had so much to offer!

Judy started with visiting the Michel, the biggest church in Hamburg. She stared open mouthed at the biggest of the five organs in there, the biggest one alone had 6,674 pipes. When she left the church, she saw a commotion of mammals in front of it and when she came closer, she saw that a street theater was about to begin. The conferencier had just started to speak in German, but he repeated everything in English as a lot of tourist group from other countries were present.

He told the story of the most famous pirate in Germany, Klaus Stoertebeker, the play that was performed by a group of foxes, wolves and one raccoon as Klaus. The play was about his execution in 1601 A.D. The raccoon was brought on the stage in irons accompanied by some twenty of his pirates. When the mayor read the verdict ("Death by beheading!"), the raccoon offered a golden chain, so long that it could be laid around all of Hamburg – the treasure of Stoertebeker, that had never been found.

After some consideration, the City Council, however, decided to behead him anyway. Klaus now pleaded for his men, he asked to pardon any pirate that he managed to walk by after his beheading.

The mayor agreed. The raccoon actor vanished shortly behind a cloth and when he reappeared, the audience laughed, as it was pretty obvious that his head was now under his shirt and an artificial head was now on his shoulders. The executioner swung his mighty sword and the artificial head fell down and blood was spurting out of the raccoons neck onto the screaming first row of the audience.

Judy remembered her own performance many years ago where lots of ketchup was spilled on stage.

The crowd rooted for Klaus while his beheaded body started to walk past five, eight, nine, ten men. When he was about to pass the eleventh, however, the executioner stretched out his leg, and the body fell.

The crowd was booing. The mayor announced that all pirates would now be beheaded, even the ten Stoertebeker had passed and the crowd booed even more.

After a lot of bloody executions, the mayor praised the executioner for his fine work, but he answered, "That's nothing, I could continue beheading the entire Council for breaking their oath!"

Applause from the crowd, but the mayor was not amused and ordered the youngest member of the Council to behead the executioner.

After the play was over, the conferencier walked around with a hat, collecting money. Judy put a 10 Euro bill in the hat – obviously too much, as the conferencier yelled for Klaus Stoertebeker, "to pay tribute to that big fan of yours!" The raccoon jumped from the stage, grabbed the surprised Judy and kissed her on the mouth.

"Thanks, lovely lady!", the raccoon sang out loud while the crowd jeered and took photos. The raccoon has smeared big parts of Judy's fur with blood/ketchup, but he was a gentlecoon and offered her a handkerchief.

Her sides still hurting from laughing, Judy decided to have some late lunch. Along the river they were dozens of nice, small restaurants. Judy entered one that looked cozy and was greeted with the traditional "Moin moin!" by a beaver in a captain's uniform.

"Na, min Deern? Wat to eeten?", he asked her and when Judy shrugged and told him she hadn't understand a word, he smiled and continued in a strong accented version of english.

She had never been in a restaurant like this. Pred and prey sat mixed on large tables, it was quite loud as Germans seem to speak a lot during eating. The beaver sat Judy next to a couple of weasels – something that was unheard of in Zootopia, but here no one seemed to care, so Judy accepted it. They introduced, the couple were from Hamburg but both spoke English rather well.

Judy felt a bit dumb – nearly everyone here could speak English and she knew just some words. When she admitted to the weasels that she hadn't understood a single word of the beaver they laughed and explained to her that he spoke a language called "Plattdüütsch", an old, northern version of German that was still quite common with the elder folks here.

When Judy asked what she could eat, th e weasels suggested trying a fish dish – most on the menu was fish, as this was a city full of nautic traditions.

Judy shook her head in shock, "But I'm a prey, I don't eat fish!"

"But dear, look around, a lot of prey animals do eat fish here!", the weasel girl named Bianca told her.

And in fact, nearly everyone here had some sort of fish on the plate. The beaver, who had overheard the conversation, smiled at her and said, "You shutt trai my fresh self-made Labskaus!"

"Labs-what?", Judy asked.

The weasel named Boris explained that this was a traditional dish at sea. It was made from leftovers, mixed with minced fish.

"It looks not nice, but it tastes delicious!", he said and Judy accepted.

She had told them that she was from the U.A.K., which did not seem to impress them much, but when she mentioned that she has just arrived from Zootopia where she had visited some relatives, they were excited and asked thousands of questions.

"I have heard, they all live in nice new skyscrapers over there!", Bianca said.

"Yeah, and pred and prey life really close together – it must be like paradise!", added Boris

"Well…", Judy said hesitating, "I wouldn't call it paradise… and preds and prey are strictly separated, a restaurant like this would be unthinkable over there. I have a friend… a colleague… he is a fox and when we wanted to eat in a fancy restaurant… there was trouble… other guests complained about us…"

"But why?", Bianca asked, her eyes wide in shock.

"In fast food places, they serve both, but still they are mostly sitting on different tables."

The two weasels looked at each other as if they did not believe her and Judy felt a bit awkward, but in that moment, her food arrived; a plate with a red goo, covered by a fried egg, two slices of beet root and something that looked like a rolled-up fish.

The beaver laughed when he saw Judy's face, "Ha-ha, no be shy, deern, trai it, trai it! Is gutt! No get fooled by rett color, is roote beete juice."

As he waited for Judy to try it, she put some of the red goo on her fork and tasted it. The taste was strange, she had never eaten something like that before, but it was not bad, bot bad at all.

Ten minutes later, she had finished her plate, even though she hadn't dared to try the rolled-up fish called 'Matjes'. She had received so many sightseeing tips from the two weasels that she would have needed two weeks to see all.

She used one of the many pedestrian bridges to cross the river Elbe. On a series of islands inside the river was a part of the city called 'Speicherstadt' or storage city. These enormous houses built of red cinder bricks had once stored the treasures of the city; everything that was delivered by ship. In medieval times, mainly pepper, the black gold, had been stored here and weighed with real gold, as it was the most valuable item traded here.

Nowadays, there were museums and stores in the red buildings. Suddenly, Judy noticed that she had entered a dead end; in front of her was water. Just when she wanted to go back, she smelled something familiar, the scent of carved wood, like in the workshop of her father's. And really, in the very last building she saw a variety of large benches, made from dark wood, beautifully carved with most delicate figures. She entered. In the hindmost corner of the vast workshop, an animal worked at a work bench, carving wood. When she came closer, she saw to her delight that it was a fox.

"Hello? I didn't want to disturb you, but…"

The fox turned around. Immediately, he reminded Judy of Peter, Nick's father, even though this fellow seemed to be much older. His face looked worn, but his emerald eyes, very similar in color to Nick's, looked wide awake. He started to talk to her, but she didn't get a single word. Obviously, he was speaking the strange language called Plattdüütsch, like the beaver in the restaurant.

For some moments, both tried to make the other one understand, but just when the fox shrugged with his bony shoulders, Judy had an idea and tried the old fox language, Vulpine, that she had learned years ago and taught Nick, while he had learned Lapine and taught her.

The green eyes of the fox became wide with astonishment.

"Yes… yes, I understand you!" His accent was much different, but still she could understand every word he said, "But how comes… I never heard a bunny… how comes, you know this language?"

"A good friend of mine, a fox, taught me…", she said and the old fox threw back his head and laughed.

"That is so amazing! I haven't spoken Vulpine for years! I have taught my kids, but they have no use for this old idiom, and my grandchildren… they didn't even speak Platt, let alone Vulpine. But look at my manners, I haven't even introduced myself. I am Karl. Karl Holzmann, the old carpenter and wood carver."

His head went up full of pride and suddenly he looked years younger.

"You see these benches? They are from the oldest church in Hamburg…"

"Yes, the Michel!", Judy said, "I visited it just today! My name's Judy, by the way."

"Well, my little bunny girl, you may have noticed there, that the benches are missing! They need restauration, they are over 900 years old! And I am the only guy who still knows the old ways of carpentry…"

Karl wanted to know everything about Judy and she didn't had it in her heart to lie to him, so she told him the truth. When she finally asked him to keep her secret, he threw his head back and laughed again.

"Who would believe me? A bunny, walking in my workshop, speaking Vulpine and married to a fox! With two cubs! And on top of that, you are a cop on a secret mission! Don't worry, dear, I won't tell anyone…"

He allowed her to sit on one of the ancient benches while she watched amazed how a piece of wood became a delicate figurine under his experienced paws. Names were carved in the benches and Karl explained that the benches were reserved for the oldest, richest families, called 'Pfeffersäcke' or pepper bags, as most of them got rich by trading spices.

Karl knew the most fascinating stories about the city and Judy loved to listen to him. From time to time he stopped working, turned around to her as if he wanted to check if he was dreaming or not. Then he shook his head, laughed silently and continued.

It started to get dark when they said good bye and Judy promised to come back tomorrow. Ho bowed down to be level with her face and said, "I am 95 years old, I spent 80 years in this workshop, but I've never met a bunny… no, a mammal like you. I know exactly why your Nick fell for you. Hell, if I would be 70 years younger, I would propose to you right now!"

Judy giggled and hugged him. She hopped back in the hotel. Even though she hadn't slept for 21 hours now, she was much too excited to go to sleep. She went into a bar for a drink and a snack but the place was packed with soccer fans as there was a big game on TV that night. Most of the guests wore German soccer jerseys and rooted for their team. Judy had been in the school league soccer team in Bunny Burrows and she had been rather good with the ball, but what she saw here was completely different. But after she had stared on the screen for half an hour she started to look around in the pub and noticed once again how different mammals behaved over here. Pred and prey stood close together, and when Judy received glasses of beer without ordering any, she was looking around for the spender, assuming someone wanted to flirt with her – enough male bunnies were present. But then she noticed, that every time some thirsty soccer fan walked to the bar, he or she ordered a round for the entire table! In the half time break, Judy walked to the bartender and ordered twelve beer in her best German. She had already learned, that it was customary that the spender drank first, shouting a loud "Prost!" in the round. So she did and received eleven salutes and friendly nods from the others at her table before the heads turned back to the match.

During the exciting phase of the game, everyone stood up and Judy could not see the screen any more, but a grinning wolf simply grabbed her and sat her on his broad shoulders like she was a child.

It seemed a bit rude in the beginning, but somehow, Judy liked this kind of spirit.

When she finally returned back to the hotel, the concierge gave her a letter from Jack. It contained only the time when his train would arrive tomorrow afternoon.

She crawled in bed, tired but excited, and before she fell in a deep, dreamless sleep, a final thought ran through her mind: _How could Jack say that the mammals here are dumb and unfriendly? They are all so friendly and open minded! I am sure they have their problems over here, too, but I bet it would be very nice to be a cop in this city!_


	10. Chapter 10 - Just Married

**Chapter 10 – Just Married**

Judy slept in, a luxury she hadn't had since nearly four years. She enjoyed a long bath in the luxurious tub, then dressed in a short skirt with a pair of leggings underneath and a shirt that accentuated her figure. The weather was nice, the sun was out, but a chilly breeze was coming from the sea. Judy got three helpings from the vast breakfast buffet, then she left the hotel and strolled through the streets close by the river. In a small gift shop she bought a tiny bottle of a strange white foggy liquid after she had asked the shop attendant for advice.

Judy walked happily across the bridge to the Speicherstadt. The fresh, cold sea air filled her lungs. This dangerous mission felt like a holiday, but of course she knew this feeling would not last long.

When she reached Karl's workshop, the old fox was already waiting outside, a happy smile on his face.

As she gave him the present, he smacked his lips in exactly the same way Nick did when he was about to eat or drink something he liked.

"Thank you, Judy!", Karl said, "I like this stuff, but it is a bit too expensive for me to enjoy every day!"

When they walked together in his workshop, he urged her to the small table inside.

"I have a surprise for you, too!", he said, "I have searched half the night for it, it's been ages I have looked at it, but I wanted you to see it…"

He lifted a heavy object out of a bag, wrapped in a cloth. He unwrapped it and Judy looked at an ancient looking book, the title was in strange letters Judy had never seen before.

"What is this?", she asked.

"This is a book about Vulpine. These letters are Vulpine runes, these runes had been used by foxes to write down the history of our species. The oldest texts mentioned in here were written 2,000 years ago!"

Fascinated Judy opened the book very carefully.

"I wasn't aware of the fact that Vulpine has his own letters! In the text book I have, everything was written in our normal alphabet", Judy said.

"Yes, when all mammals started to live together, the latin alphabet was used for every species and the old runes are nearly forgotten by now…"

The old paper was brown and thick. There were texts in runes in there, but also in latin alphabet.

"The Vulpine texts are old legends of the past. The other text is German, there are translations in there, but it also teaches you to write in runes!"

"This is so amazing…", said Judy.

"This book was printed over three hundred years ago! It's an heirloom of my family, one of my ancestors helped writing it!", Karl said full of pride.

"Wow…"

Karl looked at the little bunny, her paws carefully carressing the ancient paper, her mouth and eyes wide opened, her nose twitching of excitement. He knew instantly, he'd made the right decision.

"It is yours", he just said.

"What? No! Karl, I can't accept it!", Judy said shaking her head vigorously, "This book is thousands of dollars worth! And you said yourself, it's an heirloom of your family, your son should get it!"

Karl shook his head, "For him it's just a book of gibberish. He would probably sell it right away. But you are about the only mammal I know that will really appreciate it… even though you can't read German…"

"Oh, I will learn it, make no mistake about that!", Judy shouted full of excitement, "Nick will freak out when he sees this! Are there Robin Hood stories in it?"

Karl grinned, "Several!"

Judy looked at Karl and tears started to run, "I… I… I just don't know what to say… I mean, 'thank you' is simply not enough for…"

She jumped up wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to his breast. Karl smiled while petting her long ears, chuckling, "You bunnies… so emotional…"

Judy giggled, "You and Nick, you _must_ be related somehow…"

Suddenly, Karl hit his forehead with his paw, "Shoot, I nearly forgot…", he rummaged in his pocket, "here, I made this for you… spent the entire morning… it's just a small thing, but maybe you like it…"

He gave Judy a round wooden object. It was a small disk, with fine carvings in it that made…

"A fox!", Judy said, "It's a fox's face!"

"Turn it around!", Karl said.

Judy turned the face upside down and suddenly…

"Now it's a bunny! Here are the ears and here is the nose… This is amazing!"

"You could wear it as a necklace, I drilled a hole in it…"

"This is so beautiful! And all I gave you was that lousy bottle of schnapps…", Judy said, but the old fox just laughed.

With Karl's help she packed the book carefully in a cardboard box.

"I can't take it with me", Judy explained, "it's too valuable and I don't know what will happen… I'll send it to my parents' farm!"

It was hard for Judy to say good bye to Karl. When this was over, she needed to come back to this place with Nick and the kids and visit him. She just hoped he would still be there. After several hugs and a lot of tears from the emotional bunny, she finally managed to get away. She posted the package at a post office and rushed back to the hotel. She needed to wash her face after all that crying, Jack would arrive in half an hour.

She barely made it, the train arrived just the second she did. Mammals were already pouring out of the train and Judy hopped on a bench to have a better look. Many bunnies were there, but Jack being much taller than the average should be easy to spot… when she finally saw him, she gasped. As his cream white fur with the tiger pattern would be way to flashy for a secret undercover mission, she had expected him to dye his fur, too, as she did. But now, he was pitch black.

Judy had to suppress a giggle, she jumped off the bench, squeezed through the crowd until she reached him, jumped right into his arms and kissed him. Jack's body stiffened and he stared at her. Judy pressed her face against his ears, whispering, "Hey, we're newlyweds on our honeymoon, did you forgot?"

Jack gave an unsure smile, "No… but… I hadn't expected… I mean, it is very unlikely that someone is watching us right now…"

"Well, then I was practising. And, wow, you'll need a lot of practise!"

Jack didn't know if she was just mocking him or if she was serious about that. However, it felt good… he shook his head, no, this is not supposed to happen, it had happened once, and now he was on the edge of being an emotional cripple.

They walked to the hotel. Jack tested the room with his ancient looking phone, but there were no bugs or cameras.

"I have not expected to find any", he explained, "if I had found one, that would mean they are already on our trace, no sense to board the ship when they already know about us…"

"But Jack, really, _black_? Isn't this… I mean, you stand out so much…"

"Yes, dear, sometimes the best disguise is the flashy one… no one thinks someone looking this suspicious may do anything bad!"

Judy remembered Nick saying exactly the same when he explained about his earlier 'business', as he still likes to call it.

"I wouldn't call black 'flashy'… you look like the Black Bunny of Inle himself", Judy giggled.

"However, have you managed to find a proper cover story to explain your absence at ZPD?", asked Jack.

"Oh, yes, Nick came up with a good one. Officially, we take part in a police exchange program with our partner district in Japan. We have even arranged that the chief over there will confirm any inquiries, just in case someone asks."

"So, how many people know the truth?", asked Jack sorrowful.

"Just one. Kitty has arranged everything. She had planned such an exchange program for months, she was happy to use it, even if it is just a cover story. She booked airline tickets and talked to the japanese chief…"

"Kitty? You mean Katherine McMahon, that feline dangling from Bogo's tie?"

Judy's face became hard as granite, her paws went to her hips, "Yes, she is Deputy Chief of ZPD district one, she is not 'dangling', whatever this was supposed to mean! Hell, Jack, it is not easy to sneak out of police duty for several weeks! Even Bogo does not know the truth and Kitty is a hundred percent reliable, my best friend, my bridesmaid, godmother to my kids! I would trust her with my very life!"

Jack nodded, "You already did. Don't look at me that way, I didn't want to insult your friend, but felines are not known for being good secret keepers… and there is the old saying that three animals could keep a secret if two of them are dead!"

Judy was still furious, "Maybe you should overcome your prejudices against certain species!"

Jack sighed and lifted his arms, "Maybe you are right. I am sorry. I don't know her good enough and I am nervous. I've been on undercover missions often enough, but this time I have no backup whatsoever, I am officially on sick leave and I have to take care of you…"

"And vice versa!", growled Judy.

"I just wanted to say, that even you are a number one cop, you are not a trained secret agent. But as I said, I am sorry, so please stop looking at me as if you want to swallow me alive. Get your bag, we'll need to walk over to board the ship. I know that we were scheduled to board tomorrow morning, but the travel agency has called me that they want to depart at 5 am as bad weather is coming this way. So we will sleep aboard. Our luggage is already in our suite, seven suitcases, I hope I have guessed your sizes correctly. And I hoped, I have not forgotten anything… you know, I never went shopping for… a wife."

Judy had to laugh when he turned away shyly, but Jack was happy that the tension was gone.

They just had to cross the street and walk for two minutes to reach the pier. The MS Germania was sparkling in the sunlight, white as snow. It was the biggest moving object Judy had ever seen in her life. Several cranes were busy to load the mighty ship while long queues of animals stood before the check in counters.

Jack walked past the queues directly to the VIP check in and Judy followed. She had already noticed, that the check in personnel were exclusively felines in rather sexy uniforms. The VIP counter was under control of a snow white cat with long fur that shimmered like silk. Her teeth were flawless when she smiled at them.

"Herzlich Willkommen! Sie müssen unsere Frischvermählten sein!", she said with a purring voice.

"Yes, I am Mr. Jakob Kreuzberg and this is my wife – she speaks only English!", said Jack.

"Oh, of course, sorry, Mrs Kreuzberg, a warm welcome for our newlyweds!", the cat said in perfect English.

Jack handed over their fake passports and the tickets. The cat swiped them over a mobile scanner and looked on a tiny screen.

"Your luggage had already arrived and is in your suite. Sorry for all the mayhem here…", she pointed at the crowds, "… but we have learned about our early departure only this morning! We need to hurry to have everything onboard in time – and our 15,000 passengers, of course! But don't worry – you won't notice any difference in our service!"

She handed them a folder with information and put bracelets on their left arm.

"These bracelets are coded. You can open your cabin door with it, just wave your left paw in front of the little blue sign. It also opens your private safe in your cabin and every other door to areas you have access to. You can also pay with it in all of our stores and in the wellness area, too, so you won't need any money on board. You can not take it off without breaking it, if that happens, please contact us immediately, you will get a new one and we will shut down the old one, so no one can misuse it."

The bracelet was so light, Judy could barely feel it, but it was strange that you were not allowed to take it off. The cat smiled when she saw the expression on Judy's face.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it in no time, they are very comfortable. Martina will be your responsible purserette, you can ask her anything and anytime. She will be here any second and guide you to your love nest!"

Another cat, a petite tabby, approached them, smiling like crazy and taking Judy's paws in hers.

"Congratulations! To your wedding of course, and in addition, that you will spend your honeymoon on the pride of the Maybach fleet, the MS Germania! I am Martina, when you dial the 9 on your cabin phone, you'll reach me directly!"

Her English sounded a bit funny, but Judy liked her. She was vivacious and pointed at the ship as if it was her private property. Obviously, she was very proud of her job.

Judy was excited when they crossed the gangway and entered the large ship. They walked through some corridors and Judy would never had found the way out again.

"Oh, don't worry, it seems a bit confusing in the beginning, but after two days you will know exactly where anything is. And here we are!"

She opened a huge door with a code card bearing her picture and they stood in a luxurious living room.

"Here is your bathroom, complete with tub and jacuzzi and over here", she opened another door, "is the room you'll spent most of the time I suppose!"

A large bedroom with an oversized heart-shaped bed in the middle made Judy gasp. Jack looked a bit embarrassed by the cat's comment.

"You have your own private balcony outside the living room. Please be advised, that the captain may forbid it's use in bad weather when this lamp is flashing red!"

Suddenly, she jumped to Judy, taking her paws again and gave her a wide smile, her eyes wide open.

"It's so exciting! I am so happy for you two guys! Call me anytime! Oh, and dinner is served between 18 and 21 o'clock in the main saloon on this deck. Or", she gave Jack a naughty smile, "you can call me and I arrange a private dinner right here!"

She winked at Judy and vanished.

"Wow!", said Judy, "Either she is a very good actress or she is really happy for us! What did she mean by 18 o'clock?"

"Oh, the Germans call 6 pm '18 o'clock'. Just subtract 12 hours for the pm period."

Jack fidgeted with his cell phone. They had agreed that he would praise the WLAN quality if he found any bugs or cameras.

"Judy, the WLAN here is excellent!", he said and a cold shiver ran down Judy's back, especially when he added, "I never had such a good WLAN quality!"

That meant that the place was bugged completely – and that also meant that they had to play the newlywed couple all the time including in the bedroom.

Jack sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. "Why don't we walk around a little?", he said.

"Sure!"

The ship had everything you could want and even more. Jack and Judy walked hand in hand (which seemed to bother Jack quite a lot) through the giant mall, the casino, the spacious pool area on deck, the gym, the sauna (Jack reminded Judy that Germans usually were naked when doing sauna) and the wellness area. Everything was built to accommodate mammals of bunny size (the smaller mammals had their own scaled-down decks). There were numerous open areas to walk or to rest. At the rear end of the ship, directly below the oversized german flag sporting the colors black-red-gold and the coat of arms with two bunnies, there was a very small deck with some twenty deck chairs. Jack told Judy to sit down and checked his phone.

"As I thought! There are cameras here, but no audio devices. When the ship is at sea, it will be quite loud here as the propellers are right underneath. So, here we have a place we could talk."

He rubbed his forehead, "There is not a single spot inside our cabin without camera and bug coverage, so we must be extremely careful. I receive tons of signals everywhere, so I suppose all first class cabins are heavily bugged. I bet they have an army of mammals hidden somewhere below deck to watch all the surveillance!"

"How can they do that? Do you really think someone is sitting down there watching every move we make or listening to any word we say?"

"Probably not. I mean, it is easy to hide, let's say, 1,000 mice someplace that do the job, but I think, the cams and mikes are computer-controlled. They will only produce footage when there is movement or noise. Maybe they even listen for keywords, like 'secret', 'attack' or even Maybach's name."

Judy sighed, "Speaking of Maybach, this guy loves to see his picture! His face is everywhere! Creepy!"

Jack nodded, "Okay, it's half past six. Let's walk to the dining salon and have a meal! But before, we should put on evening clothes."

Back in their cabin, Judy started unpacking the large suitcases. She never had owned so many beautiful clothes, but of course, she couldn't show her excitement. She choose a black, shoulder free dress, that fell down to her ankles. Jack had also bought some shoes, mainly high heels, but she didn't felt like that. The dress was long enough to hide her bare feet. Jack dressed in a cream colored tuxedo and now he really looked like an agent from a Bond movie. Judy played her role and did, what a wife would do: she arranged his bow tie and kissed him, what earned her a puzzled look. Judy sighed silently and did hope that the cams are not high-res, otherwise it might look suspicious.

The dining room was vast and luxurious. At the entrance Martina awaited them, beaming and greeting them with "You two look really awesome!". She lead them to a round table with six chairs, but only five places had been laid out. Martina told them, that she was responsible for three first class cabins and they would seat together with the passengers from the other two.

Judy and Jack took a first trip to the vast buffet. When they came back, Martina arrived with three other guests and introduced them.

"This is Frau Kleefeld and her daughter. They have the cabin to your right. And this gentlebunny is Herr von Lohdorf from the cabin to your left. And this charming couple are our honeymooners, Herr und Frau Kreuzberg, she is from the U.A.K., so I hope you won't mind speaking English?", Martina asked the three newcomers.

The friendly looking Herr von Lohdorf bent down to kiss Judy's paw and said, "Not at all, of course!"

His English had a hard german accent, but he looked like a good natured granddad and Judy immediately liked him.

The two does seemed a bit reserved, maybe they were not so comfortable talking in a foreign language.

During dinner, they warmed up a little. They immediately agreed on using first names, the elder doe was named Patrizia and her daughter Viktoria ("But you can call me Vicky!", she piped in a high pitched voice). It turned out, that Mr Stefan von Lohdorf was actually the fiancee of Vicky and that they made this voyage to "get more used to each other", as he called it.

That sounded quite strange to Judy. Patrizia looked very strict, like she never had a day of fun in her life. Her daughter was rather plump and part of her face was covered with scars and Judy noticed that her left eye was not moving at all. Her ears were drooping all the time.

When everyone got up to check out the buffet, Vicky stayed back and Judy decided to postpone her trip so the shy girl won't sit alone. Judy found out that Vicky was only 15 years old. Her English was not very good and she didn't spoke Lapine at all, but Judy was under the impression that Vicky was much more talkative when her strict looking mother was not present.

During dinner it was rather quiet, but every time Judy looked at Vicky, the girl gave her a wide smile that looked a bit eerie due to all her scars.

When they had finished, Judy and Jack retreated into their luxurious cabin, where they unpacked their luggage, a task that took them more than one and a half hours. As the ship would leave port at 5 am and they expected to wake up, they decided to go to bed at 10 pm. Judy changed into a silk night shirt while Jack tried not to look. They used the bathroom together and again Jack tried to hide his awkwardness with random conversation about their neighbours. When they went to bed and Jack had turned off the lights, Judy put her arms around him and pressed her face against his breast fur, a position she used to have with Nick. Jack was stiff as a board and whispered, "What are you doing?"

"It's called cuddling", Judy whispered back, "Married bunnies are doing it like that, you know. By the way, the guys watching us will wonder why a newlywed couple won't exchange a good long good night kiss…"

They kissed and Judy had to suppress a laugh. This felt like back when she was a ten-year-old kissing a class mate during a game of truth or dare. Jack might be one of the best agents in the world but he definitely needs kissing training. Well, they'll have ten days left…


	11. Chapter 11 - The Journey Begins

**Chapter 11 – The Journey Begins**

To Judy's disappointment, she and Jack woke up after 8 am, when the MS Germania was already at sea. She had wanted to see the ship depart, waving to the mammals on shore as in the movie 'Titanic'. But obviously, the ship's departure was so silent, that they did not notice at all.

The reason for their deep sleep could have been that both had lie awake during half the night, each following their own thoughts…

Jack had never been so unsure what to do in his entire career. Normally, the situation would be a dream – he had fallen in love with Judy (he was not denying this anymore, to say the least) and destiny had given him a golden opportunity to travel with her as a married couple. But it was not so easy. Most mammals saw just the cool special agent and everyone had cliché expectations about his profession, like Nick. But Jack was afraid. This was the strangest mission he had ever been assigned to, he had no clue what to do when they would reach the strange tourist resort in the middle of nowhere. He had no back up, no assistance from the agency whatsoever. Well, he could call D on his VLF phone, but what could the director of the Secret Service do? Even with the fastest plane, it would take at least a day to get reinforcements down to Antarctica.

And Jack was the responsible type, he did not like at all to pull Judy in there. Sure, she was not a typical frail bunny, she was tough and very well able to take care of herself. She acted so naturally as his 'wife', she took his arm, she even kissed him without any hesitation.

In the beginning of his career, he had had a similar assignment with a much older doe acting as his spouse, but at least they had slept in a hotel room with no bugs or cameras. So he had slept on the floor while she had taken the bed. He had felt awkward then, even though he just had to walk arm in arm with her.

But now… He had never met someone like Judy, someone so ferocious, so alive, so strong, except for… Jack closed his eyes and closed his mind. No, he didn't want to think about the short, hot affair that had changed his life once and for all, that special feeling that had lasted only a few days before the subject of his love had died in his arms and left his life in ruins.

It was different, Judy might have some similar attributes, but she was not only married, but seriously devoted to Nick. Jack had not liked Nick when they first met, but the training in ZPD had changed Jack's mind a bit – and not only because that sly fox managed to trick him into losing a fight. Judy had turned that con artist into quite a good cop – and quite a good father, as far as Jack had seen.

No, there was nothing for him to do, except for waiting. Waiting what this crazy mission would turn into and waiting what that crazy bunny would turn _him_ into.

Judy, on the other hand, was missing her kids. Those two little rascals had left a huge gap in her heart. At least, Nick would still be with them. She missed Nick, too, of course, but at least he would be on the same ship in nine days. When she was thinking about them, she never pictured them as 'foxes', for her they are so tightly connected that a species name meant nothing any more. Sure, the carnivorism was hard to ignore, but she had taken it as good as she could. She had become a rather good cook of carnivorous meals, she even had gotten used to the smell. And even if she couldn't look inside Nick's head, she was sure that he didn't look at her as a mere 'bunny'.

Judy remembered a scene shortly after she arrived with Nick at Bunny Borrows for the first time. One of her older sisters named Clarissa had asked her, "How could you trust him? How could you believe a single word he is telling you? He is a fox, but even worse, you said it yourself, he is a con artist, he makes his living out of lying to other mammals, stealing what's rightfully theirs, his whole life is a lie from day one!"

Judy smiled when she she thought of her mother reprimanding Clarissa, but Judy had stopped her, saying, "No, Clarissa is right. How could I know?"

The much younger Judy had lifted her head up high and said, "The truth is, I don't. He is much cleverer than me, if he wants to lie to me, he would most probably succeed. But I love him, I love him so much, that I decided to trust him a hundred percent. I will believe every word he tells me, even if it is a complete lie, as long as he still loves me!"

And that she had done, til today. Nick had proven to be the perfect partner in ZPD, the perfect lover, the perfect friend, and yes, even the perfect mate when it had come to sexual activities, even if it had hurt in the beginning. But Judy had accepted the pain as a part of the deal. She had never had a bunny lover, but she had never missed it. Nick had given her everything she desired.

When she had told Nick that during their last night before the flight to Europe, Nick had laughed, "But Carrots, you don't know what you are missing!"

"What do you mean?", she had asked.

"Well, I have had vixen girlfriends before you, you know that. Sex with a bunny is completely different. In a good way. I _know_ that certain aspects are missing, but _I_ don't miss them, clear?"

Judy had turned her head to look into his smiling face, "No, I don't get it… you want to say, that I may miss certain things when… when I never have sex with a bunny?"

Nick nodded.

"Sorry, Nick, but it sounds like that you _want_ me to have sex with Jack, so I could find out!"

"Well, fluff butt, I wouldn't go that far that I _want_ it. But when you want to pretend you and Jack are a newlywed couple… you can't just hold paws all day. Especially taking into account…"

With a malice smile he had whispered something in her long ear. Judy had grunted.

"Sometimes, I am freaked out by how good you know me…", she had said, "Oh, Nick, this is all so… shit, I don't know. I don't like the whole plan. But I promise you, whatever will happen, you will always be the love of my life!"

She had pressed her face against his chest, inhaling his sweet scent.

"But, Nick, that's… that means betraying you…"

"No, Carrots, it would be betraying if you would do it in secret… but you'll do it with a secret agent, that's different!"

"Can you never be serious?", Judy had growled.

 _ **Day 1 on sea**_

The Kreuzbergs had a delicious breakfast alone, as they came to the table rather late and the plate of their three travel companions had already been removed. Then, they went on deck. The weather was cloudy and windy, the pool was empty, some passengers had wrapped themselves in blankets and made themselves comfortable in deck chairs. For a while, Judy and Jack stood arm in arm and watched the continent vanish on the horizon. Then, they went inside as Judy wanted to go window-shopping through the large mall.

Deep down in the entrails of the MS Germania sat Xavier Rodriguez at his keyboard. The room the coyote was in had no windows and he had been staring on the screen of his PC for six hours now and felt a little headache. His name could be found on the crew list with the title 'chief purser'. The job was well paid, _very_ well, to be precise, but right at this moment, Xavier would have given anything for being free to roam… well, everywhere, except this ship. Officially, the ship had a crew of 2,700 mammals, but Xavier knew better. More than 1,500 small rodents were sitting in a closed space in the tiny deck K-E, working their little asses off just as he did. They were listed as passengers, but they all worked for Maybach Enterprises. These little guys were constantly monitoring the cameras and mikes installed everywhere. They had to write reports about any suspicious behaviour among the passengers and forward them to him. He has to check and validate everything, collect background info for those passengers who act suspiciously and report to one of the ship's officers.

He would call that a futile job had it not been just recently that they found out about secret agents who tried to infiltrate big boss's lair in Antarctica. Xavier did not know what had happened to the poor fellows, and to be honest, he didn't want to know. He yawned and stretched. He had been clicking through numerous sheets with passenger details, one more boring than the other, all marked as 'harmless'.

He opened the next report and pictures of two bunnies appeared on his screen, a brown female one with white markings and a black buck. Xavier sighed. This ship was full of bunnies. He read the names, Judith and Jakob Kreuzberg, cabin A51 – the honeymoon suite.

"Great…", he murmured, "… those stupid bunnies probably stay in bed all the time…"

As his own love life was on an all time low, the last thing he wanted to do was to read how these two pieces of worthless prey tried to multiply…

He raised an eyebrow when he checked the relevant field ('sexual activity') in the table provided and found a big fat zero in it. He checked the data. According to the papers, they had married two weeks ago, so maybe they had already started to get tired… or they just needed to adapt to sea life, sea sickness was quite common during the first days.

He closed the file, when all of a sudden he hesitated. He reopened the pictures and stared at the blank face of Judith Kreuzberg. Somehow…

Xavier had an excellent memory when it comes to faces, even those of different species. A talent like that was rare, one bunny looked pretty much like the other for any other mammal. This special talent had brought him that job.

Somewhere he had seen this face before, but he could not remember where. He was concentrating deeply when suddenly someone knocked at the door.

"Fuck…", he whispered and quickly hid his coffee mug in one of the drawers as drinking was strictly prohibited in here, before he yelled, "Come in!"

His room was on deck F, only the cheapest inside cabins and crew rooms were located there. Of course, passengers could not enter the crew areas, but this part was even more restricted and only a selected handful of crew members could simply appear here and knock.

The door opened. A dark grey colored wildcat in a white uniform entered the room with a wide smile showing a magnificient set of teeth and long fangs. First Officer Xenia Fjodorewna Dikayakoshka marched in on her long slim legs, her bushy tail waving from left to right. There was not a single soul among the crewmembers that was not afraid of her uncontrollable temper. Rumors had it, that she had once killed a crewmember that had spilled food over her by cutting his throat with her claws. Most crewmembers did not believe that story (at least they say so), but Xavier was not so sure.

"How is my favorite chief purser doing?", she purred in her dark voice. She used English, the official language for crew communication with a strong russian accent. Not everyone on this ship spoke German and Xavier, who had lived the past ten years in Zootopia, was one of them.

She carried a tablet computer in her right paw, a black model with a red stripe bearing the Maybach logo. All high ranking officers had them and they always carry it around.

Since Xavier had managed to identify the secret agent on board some months ago, he was in her good book and he definitely wanted to stay in there as he had seen what happened to other crewmembers when she was in a bad mood.

Her presence had a strange effect on him. When he was alone, he thought of her as a feline, weak and unimportant except for her higher rank on this ship. But as soon as she stood in front of him, his nerves were tingling and he… yes, he was attracted to her in a strange way he could not explain.

She had moved behind him, her paws were on his shoulders and he could feel her razor sharp claws even through his uniform. She bent forward, her cheek was against his and she looked on his screen.

"What are you working on?"

Xavier cleared his throat. It was hard to concentrate, especially as she had started to massage his shoulders which felt _very_ nice. "Well, erm, this is Judith Kreuzberg, however you pronounce this… the report is not suspicious, but I have the feeling that I know her… I just can't put her anywhere… maybe I am wrong and I just…"

"Oh, no, dear, when you say you saw her then you definitely _have_ seen her… I trust your memory…"

Her paws were wandering down over his chest. Man, she was so hot…

She giggled in his ear, "Maybe you want to earn yourself another reward…"

Xaviers mouth opened and he started to pant. He hated doing this typical canine cliché thing, especially in front of a feline, but he couldn't help it.

After he had unmasked the female agent who had disguised herself as a cook, his 'reward' had been a candle light dinner with Xenia… She had worn a black dress that revealed a lot of fur (and more!) and the food had been the best he had eaten in his life. When he had asked her what kind of meat surrogate this was, she had smiled at him and just had said, "I made it myself. An old recipe from my home. Have you ever tasted… real meat?"

Xavier had nearly dropped his fork, "Hell, no! You mean… meat from a dead mammal? You now that it is strictly prohibited to even…"

"I know, I know…", she had interrupted him, "Relax, I was just asking… however, this stuff is supposed to come very close to the real taste!"

"Well… it's really great…", he hesitated and Xenia seemed to be distracted as she started swiping on her ever-present tablet computer. Suddenly, Xavier's thoughts went into a complete different direction. _Wouldn't it be great to taste_ real _meat? To hunt and kill like our ancestors did? To be rewarded for a successful hunt with that great taste, with hot blood and warm meat, ripped out of steaming bodies with bare teeth?_

A kind of dizzyness had taken him, but when he had been able to concentrate again, he had noticed he was digging in full of delight. When he looked up, he saw Xenia beaming at him. He cleared his throat. Where had his table manners gone?

"Well, ma'am, may I ask a question?"

"You may, if you call me Xenia when we are alone", she had purred softly.

"Xenia then, okay… do you know what happened with that agent?"

Her smile had gotten even wider and she had bent forward so that her nose had nearly touched his snout.

"Oh, don't worry, my hungry friend… she is getting rid of just while we're eating…"

When she had taken him to the door of her spacy cabin, she had taken his face in her paws and kissed him. Just two days ago the thought of a _cat_ sticking her tongue in his mouth would have maked him puke, but then he had answered her kiss ferociously, had enjoyed the fact that her saliva had tasted like that delicious stuff she had served him.

He had suffered from very strange and babaric dreams that night…

Xavier shook his head and tried to focus on the picture in front of him.

"Well, ma'… I mean, Xenia, I would like to put her on 24-hour observation, just in case… only if you agree, of course", he added quickly.

"Sure I do!", she replied. She opened his drawer, took out the mug of coffee and took a long sip, "Do whatever you deem necessary, darling. And don't hide your mug, those kind of rules do not apply to my favourite coyote…", she placed a kiss on his cheek.

She walked to the door, but before she left she turned around.

"Contact me as soon as you have news on that bunny. You can come to my cabin any time, okay?"

"Aye-aye, ma'am!", he said.

When she had vanished, he leaned back and exhaled slowly. Something was happening each time, that darn wildcat was present, he couldn't help it. He could not seriously fall for a _cat_ , could he? But the massive erection he just had told him something different… He sighed and went back to work. He wrote an order for the surveillance team to have a closer look at Judith Kreuzberg. From now on, one team member would always listen to every word she said, watch every move she made.

Judy had spent a wonderful afternoon in the huge shopping plaza that stretched over three decks, then she had some cake and coffee. Jack had joined her for the first hour, than excused himself as he wanted to go to the gym. They had arranged to meet with Stefan, Pat and Vicky for dinner. This time, it was much more pleasant as Patrizia (Judy did not dare to call her 'Pat', she and Jack just used the name when they were alone) seemed to have warmed up a little. Her daughter was no longer shy, too, she sat next to Judy and chatted all the time. When they were nearly done, Stefan looked at Jack.

"Dear Jakob, would you like to join me in the saloon on deck C?", he said, and explained that he found someone down there who played a certain card game, called 'Scart', and Jack immediately agreed. When Judy asked, Stefan explained, that the game could only be played with three mammals, and that it was a century-old german card game.

Judy was a bit pissed, as they were supposed to play a married couple here and now she hardly saw Jack at all.

"So, Vicky, as the guys seem to not want us around, why don't we go down to E-deck? I heard they have a dance party there tonight!", Judy said and looked to Pat, "You can come, too, of course, if…"

"Me? Certainly not!", Pat immediately answered, "And you shouldn't go there, too!", she said in a rather strict voice to her daughter.

"Oh, mom, please, it sounds like fun!", Vicky pleaded.

"Well, then ask your fiancee, let's see if he approves!"

Stefan barely looked up from his talk with Jack, "What? Oh, sure, go there, have a little fun!", he said.

Pat frowned, obviously she had been sure that Stefan would forbid it, but before she could say anything more, Vicky had jumped up, grabbed Judy by her paw and pulled her away.

As soon as her mother was out of sight, Vicky turned into a typical teenager, laughing, jumping, skipping, having no care in the world.

When they reched the big hall on deck E, they were greated by loud pop music. The room was crowded with mammals, at least half of them bunnies. The dance floor was packed and Vicky jumped up and down full of excitement. Judy looked out for a free table as she wanted to sit down and have a drink.

"Look, over there!", she shouted to Vicky in order to get over the loud music.

She pointed to a table with four chairs. Two of them were free, on the other two sat two male weasels, showing each other stuff on their smartphones.

"I don't know…", said Vicky, "they are predators…"

"And what?", answered Judy, "We can ask them, they won't eat us!"

She moved over, pulling Vicky with her.

"Hey guys!", she shouted, "Are those chairs free?"

The weasels stared at her and the bigger one looked them up and down.

"Certainly not for you!", he snorted, "Get lost, or we might eat you!"

Vicky wanted to turn away, but Judy pushed her gently on the first chair.

"I think, this guy just said, the chair is free!", Judy said and sat down on the other chair.

"No, Judy!", Vicky whispered, "They might…"

"Yes, we might!", the bigger one roared and stood up, "Listen, bitch, I have just one word for you…"

But before they could find out what word he meant, Judy shot up and her left paw hit the right side of the weasel's throat so vigorously, that he toppled to the side and barely could hold on the table. But before he could regain control, Judy had used her powerful legs to kick his left leg hard and now he crashed with his head hard on the table. Immediately, Judy was over him, one paw pressing his head firmly on the table, the other one waving in front of his eyes, her claws extended to full length.

"Well, my friend, I have _two_ words for you and you better listen if you want to keep your eyes!", Judy said and moved her mouth close to his ear, "Piss. Off."

She released him and he landed on the floor. Immediately he sprung up, his face full of rage, staring at Judy. Judy stared back, bared her teeth and hissed at him. After five seconds he spat on the floor.

"We wanted to leave anyway!", he announced loudly, "Way to much filthy prey here to have fun! Come on!", he shouted to his friend.

They marched off and when the big weasel turned around, Judy gave him a wide smile and waved, "Thanks for the drinks, guys!"

She grabbed one glass, sniffed it and drank it all up.

"Huh!", she said and shook herself, "Wodka! Good stuff, but two more of this and I will get all wobbly! Here, Vicky, take the other one!"

But Vicky just stared at her, "How could you drink that? He had touched it with his lips!"

"Weasels are not poisonous!", Judy just said.

The waitress, a slender mongoose with shimmering blue eyes appeared at the table.

"You don't need to drink from that jerk's glass!", she said smiling, "I'll get you anything you want… for free! Those two have pestered me the entire night!"

Judy smiled at her, "For me a Bloody Mary, then. With a lot of Worcester Sauce, please! And you Vicky?"

Vicky still had both paws pressed in front of her mouth in shock. Hesitantly, she said, "I'd like to have a coke, please…"

The waitress walked away and Vicky grabbed Judy's arm.

"Judy, that… that was amazing! He was so much larger than you are! And you… you…", Vicky was looking for the right word, "you really kicked his ass!"

She put her paws over her mouth again, being shocked over her own words. Then, she started to giggle.

"Those guys are not dangerous", Judy simply said, "They just want to show off."

"That was so cool!", Vicky continued, "Coolest stuff I ever saw! But please, don't tell my mom about that, okay? She'll freak out and lock me inside my cabin for the rest of the trip!"

After they danced for more than two hours the two bunnies retreated in the much quieter bar to have a final drink before they would go to bed.

"Why do you share a cabin with your mom and not with Stefan?", Judy asked.

"We're not married yet!", Vicky said as if that was so obvious.

"But, you know, we live in the 21st century and…"

"Yes, of course, but my mother is quite old fashioned. At our farm, she had even locked me up in my room, when… when I…"

"When you get into heat?", Judy grinned and Vicky just nodded without looking at Judy.

"How have you met Stefan, I mean, he is quite a bit older…"

"He is 54.", Vicky said and now it was Judy who stared at her. Vicky took a deep breath and started to talk.

"He is a widower, his wife died five years ago, their kids are all grown up, so he lives alone. You must know, the ancestors of our two families founded our village some five hundred years ago; but then, friends became rivals and our families fought each other. Hundred years ago, the emperor ordered an armistice, since then our families lived in the same village, but without talking to each other. Until recently. Stefan's family get more and more wealthy and my family had to sold more and more land until we were… well, not really poor, but just another farming family. My siblings are much older than I am, my mom received a litter when she thought she could no longer have one. But my two brothers died early, then my dad died and after my elder siblings moved out, it was just my mom and me. She thought I would never get married, because of…", she pointed to her scarred face.

"How did that happen?", Judy asked.

"When I was four, I helped during the cabbage harvest… I fell in the cutter, one of my sisters grabbed me by the ankle, so I wasn't killed, but she couldn't prevent that my face was cut badly and I lost sight on my left eye. Last year then, one week before Christmas, I rode my bike past Stefan's farm when I suddenly heard him whimpering. He had tried to move a big boulder with his tractor, but the boulder dropped right on his leg and no one had heard him crying for several hours.

"Well, I called an ambulance and two days later he came back from the hospital with a cast. He had broken his leg and couldn't move, so… I pitied him… and I walked secretly over to his farm to help him in the house. My mom would never have allowed it. I was surprised that she agreed when I suggested to invite him for Christmas so he won't spent the holiday alone.

"And then, after our Christmas dinner…", she looked up and her eyes glistened full of pride, "… he proposed to me! In front of my mom! And she agreed!"

"And you?", Judy asked.

"Me, too, of course! I would never had thought, that… that someone would ever… well, look at my face…"

Judy shook her head, "Vicky, I think that Stefan looked more in your heart than in your face. You're a good and kind girl and that makes you beautiful!"

Vicky turned away, shyly smiling, "Thanks, Judy. I like you, too… you are the coolest, toughest bunny I ever met. Wow, I think, you could even work as a cop!"

Judy smiled, "Strange ideas you have… a bunny girl working as a cop!"


	12. Chapter 12 - Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

**Chapter 12 – Let's Talk About Sex, Baby!**

Viktor Maybach stood at the large window and stared on the vast field of glittering ice that stretched as far as his eyes could see. The summer in Antarctica was beautiful and sometimes even a rationalist like Maybach could get romantic feelings for this hard environment. A gentle breeze blew snow over the ridges, but in Maybach's giant office it was cozy and warm. Next to his desk was a fireplace and a huge fire blazed inside.

The light brown bunny hopped on his chair and went to work. The desk was very high and his chair had a lifting device so he could reach the twelve meter wide desktop made from a single piece of lapislazuli. Everything in here was enormous, except himself, of course.

Even though he was a bit taller than the the average bunny, he looked tiny in here. When he was young, this would have bothered him, but his enormous wealth and power compensated for this.

As a teenager, he had been convinced that he lived in the wrong body. He had felt like a predator all his life but he had never told a single soul about these feelings, not even his parents. When they died and he became the heir of their fortune, he had lived out his pred feelings in business – and the success was overwhelming. Today, he was the richest mammal on Earth, but instead of going to parties or living in palaces in Berlin, London, Sydney or Zootopia, he had chosen the isolation on the sixth continent.

Here he had developed his plan, slowly, but with all the precision he was famous for. The Neodym he had found here helped a lot, as he needed so much of this stuff for turning the world into his new world.

Everything worked according to his plan, and soon, very soon, he would start to spread his dream. A change of paradigm would be the ultimate consequence. Evolution had planned for predators to rule the world, but civilization had destroyed this scheme. Preds, hopelessly outnumbered by prey animals, were currently living in the shadows, living on the streets or working underpaid jobs, forbidden to eat real meat, forced to chew on a surrogate made from insects, robbed of pride and dignity.

But as soon as the last obstacles were cleared and the new technology he had envisioned was ready to be installed all over the world, prey would become… well, prey. A source of food. Predators would finally rule the world again.

His daydreaming got interrupted by a soft chime. He pressed a button and the door opened.

"Hello, my dear!", said Maybach.

A slender figure walked in graciously, her yellow fur with the black stripes sparkled like the ice outside. The Siberian tiger with the name Natalia Andrejewna Butina was the highest ranking CEO in Maybach Enterprises, at least when you look at the official website. This site said nothing about her age and education to avoid awkward questions as she was only 17 years old and had no education worth mentioning.

Most mammals would have been intimidated by the gigantism in Maybach's office, but Natalia walked right around the desk and pressed her huge head against the tiny bunny's body.

He caressed her while placing a kiss on her forehead.

She smiled at him.

"So, what news do you bring today?", he said in a let's-get-to-business voice.

Her brown eyes flashed angrily as she pouted at him, "You did not come to our party last night, that's the news!", she growled in heavy accented German.

"Natalia, dear, I'm so sorry, but I had to attend some presentations down there in the lab…", he said.

"The lab, the lab!", she interrupted him, "Always that stupid lab! Me and the other girls will think of a punishment for you…", she purred.

Viktor Maybach cleared his throat, "What about the ship?", he asked.

"Oh, the ship is on it's way… that girl you are expecting is on board. They will arrive as planned", she said as if this was the most boring fact in the world.

"Don't be rude, she will make a wonderful new playmate for you…"

She stepped back and pressed her paws in her hips, "Do you really think we need more girls?", she said.

"You can't have enough beautiful girls around, don't you think?", he answered, blinking with one eye.

She gave him a sinister smile, "Böses, böses Häschen!" [Bad, bad little bunny!] she said, then she pressed her paw on her forehead, "Oh, I nearly forgot, that nutty professor is waiting outside!"

"Oh, don't call him 'nutty', don't forget, everything you have become is thanks to his inventions! So, be a darling, move your beautiful butt out of here and sent him in, will you?"

She pouted again, turned around, and walked as slowly as possible to the door, waving her tail laszively.

"You!", she growled, "Come in!"

The tiger vanished and in her place a badger appeared in the door. He was rather old, wearing a lab coat and a pair of glasses that magnified his eyes extremely.

"Professor Wilhelm!", said Maybach full of excitement, "What can I do for you today?"

The badger had stopped some ten yards in front of the huge desk – if he'd gone further, Maybach would have been unable to see him.

"Herr Maybach, Sir, I am sorry, but we need to talk once more about your schedule for implementing…", he started.

"Professor, dear Professor", interrupted Maybach smiling, "please, don't start this again. The schedule had been checked and re-checked and I have no intention to change it!"

"But Sir, we still have a lot of problems…", Wilhelm said, and the bunny sighed.

"Well, go ahead, then…"

"Sir, first, we still need to advance our production method. 19% of the produced nanobots are defect and we don't even know why! Second, body acceptance. The bots are constructed in a way to not trigger the immune system of the patient. However, around 12% of the bots are attacked, causing fever and some other 'flu symptoms."

"I was under the impression that this problem has been solved!", Maybach said angrily.

"Yes, by injecting a certain amount of additional nanobots – and by applying medication to subdue the fever. But this is a workaround, not a solution. Third, software problems with the tablet computers", he pointed at the black tablet with the red stripe on Maybach's desk, "Some commands still trigger unusual reactions in the nanobots…"

The badger stopped as the chair moved down with an electric hum and Maybach got out of it. He walked slowly towards the frightened professor. The bunny hardly reached the breast of the badger, but instinctively Wilhelm made a step backwards.

"Martin", Maybach says softly, "how long do we know each other? Ten years? Remember how we worked in that tiny lab in Zootopia, you, me, the other guys downstairs, with big ideas and small money, working on those simple tame collars! We had tons of problems, don't you remember? And we spit in our paws, brought all the great ideas together and solved all problems in our way!"

Wilhelm snorted, "That's apples and oranges! The tame collar was a strip of polyethylene with a battery, a simple switch, a puls reading device and a lightbulb! But the nanobots are building a complicated electronic device _inside_ a mammal, interacting with its biology, with the brain, forcing glands to produce hormons, inducing feelings and reactions! There are literally hundreds of processes that we have developed by trial and error – they work, but we don't exactly know how!"

The professor had forgotten his fear and was now marching up and down in front of Maybach, "Take that stupid pet tiger of yours, for instance", he said, "Without the bots, she would misspell the word 'hat', but when I push some apps on the tablet she can solve a Rubik's Cube in 5 seconds! She hates me, you should have seen the look she gave me when she let me in, but one swipe on the tablet and she'll be licking my feet!"

Maybach grinned, "Well, professor, I never knew about your desires, feel free to use her as you please…"

Wilhelm snorted again, "That was just an example, you know perfectly well, Viktor!" He was so enraged now, that he used Maybach's first name. "I could give her orders, she will obey – except when I order her to kill another predator – they won't do it, no pred will kill another pred!"

"Martin, why should we order them to kill one of their kind? And even if we want it, we have developed a workaround…", he walked to the desk and opened a drawer, taking out a small bottle with a light blue liquid.

"Oh, yeah, great, we trigger the killing reflex from the outside with a pheromone! You know perfectly well, that as soon as the world knows what you are planning, there will be a strong resistance, and not only from prey. There are also quite a lot of predators who won't live in your wonderful new world!", Wilhelm said bitterly.

"Like you?", Maybach asked.

The professor stopped walking around, his face now showed fear.

"I have no choice", he said, "My wife… my kids…"

"Oh, please, Martin, you're such a drama queen… that sounds like I'm blackmailing you. I'm paying you! And who bought that nice farm outside of Meadowlands where your wife is living her childhood dream of farming together with horses and cows? They all live together there like one big family! Your kids love it! Look, your daughter even painted a picture for me!"

Maybach pointed at the wall next to the fireplace where some children's drawings where attached with adhesive tape.

"For them", he continued, "you are a good husband and daddy, a hero, who is working abroad to make all their dreams come true! And imagine, when our project is finished, you will be a millionnaire! And famous! You will be the one who did it, who turned his dreams into a new world. They will name schools after you, even universities!"

Wilhelm cleared his throat, "And what about the Secret Service? They tried to infiltrate this place! They know something is going on!"

"Bah!", Maybach spat out, "These fools know nothing! They lack the imagination to figure out what I am planning, even if I would mail my plans right to them! And believe me, I have a source inside the Secret Service that told me that they have given up on spying on me, they have quite a lot of other problems to take care of!"

He walked over to Wilhelm and patted him on the shoulder.

"As usual, it was quite refreshing to talk to you. Now go down and tell the others not to worry. Everything is fine and the schedule will work out as planned. You guys work too hard. Take the tablets and have some fun with the girls… or whatever you please."

The professor was pushed gently in the direction of the door, that just opened. A white lynx, a young female as well, carried a tray.

"Ah, Agnieszka, is it lunch time already?", Maybach said, happy to have an excuse for kicking the professor out. The lynx put the tray down on a table next to the cozy fireplace.

"And what have we today, my dear?"

Agnieszka waited, turned around to make sure that the professer had left and closed the door. Then she grinned, "Freshly from the Falkland Islands… mutton chops!"

 **Day 2 on sea**

It had been 2 am in the morning when Judy entered thehoneymoon cabin. To her surprise, she found it empty, Jack was obviously still playing cards. She undressed and went to the bathroom. While she brushed her teeth, she noticed a strange smell. She stopped brushing and sniffed around. When she finally found the source of the smell, she shrugged and grinned at her reflection in the mirror.

"Well, Herr Kreuzberg, let's find out if you are ready for this!"

Jack came back at half past three and managed to go to bed without waking Judy. He had spent much more time in the first class saloon than he had planned. He was tired and fell asleep immediately. When he woke up at 10 am, he found Judy awake glaring at him. Something was strange. Her look… He couldn't tell if she was angry at him or not.

"Good morning, darling!", he tried.

Her answer was a broad grin and a singing "Good morning!"

Okay, something _was_ wrong here. And what about this smell? He sniffed and for some reason he broke out in sweat. His head started to feel light. He opened the door to the private promenade deck and inhaled deeply until the strange feeling was gone. Then he turned around.

"Listen, sweetheart, sorry for yesterday, but…", he started.

"Oh, no problem, I had a splendid night myself, me and Vicky danced a lot and had a nice chat!"

"Well… okay… I guess."

Better not to say more. Jack took some steps outside.

"Wow, it has gotten warm!"

Judy came to is side and immediately the smell was back in Jack's nose and the air seemed to get even hotter every second.

She put an arm around him and for some reason Jack's danger sense started to kick in.

"Why don't we go to the pool area? It is way too late for breakfast anyway!", suggested Judy.

He agreed and five minutes later they left their cabin. Judy wore a pair of knee long jeans and a white blouse. She had left the buttons open and had knotted the ends together under her breasts. The effect was tremendous, her free belly showed a six pack and the cleavage between her breasts was also attracting Jack's attention. He would have liked to suggest a more decent outfit, but just now he thought that would not be a good idea. His white T-shirt and short pants stood out against his pitch black fur.

It was quite a walk to the pool deck. It was not so crowded as Jack had expected, it seemed that most mammals on board were still surprised how warm it had gotten in the past hours. Some more couragious animals were splashing in the various pools that were laid on different levels. In a dead end deck they spotted Stefan, Pat and Vicky waving at them. They had managed to get hold of a group of deck chairs close to a very small pool.

Pat wore a short summer dress that looked quite good on her, Stefan was in swimming trunks, while Vicky wore an old fashioned one-piece swimsuit that made her look even younger than she was.

"Wow, Judy!", giggled Vicky, "How do you got a belly like this?"

"I work out a lot…", said Judy toneless. She seemed distracted by some kids playing around in the pool.

Suddenly, Jack noticed that the other three bunnies were twitching their noses. Did they smell it, too? Patrizia frowned when she looked at Judy, but maybe she didn't like her very open choice of clothes. Jack laid down on one of the free deck chairs. When there was no wind and the sun hit directly it was quite warm already, a sign that they had reached warmer regions.

"I'm so hot!", sighed Judy.

 _Oh, yes, you are!_ thought Jack, but then he heard Patrizia whisper "Kein Wunder!" to Stefan. No wonder? What did that supposed to mean?

"Let's go and hang around at the pool!", Judy suggested and Vicky got up and joined her.

As soon as the girls were gone, Stefan grinned at Jack.

"I just wanted to ask you if you'd like to repeat our nice gaming from last night!"

Jack looked puzzled, "Yeah, why not?"

Now it was Stefan's turn to look confused, "Well, Jakob, sorry, but… I don't think your wife would be amused when you leave her alone… in her condition…"

Suddenly, Patrizia sprang up and looked at Jack with wide open eyes.

"You haven't noticed, have you?", she asked full of excitement, "You don't know her long enough…"

"Well…", said Jack cautiously, "I _have_ noticed that she is different today… and that smell…"

Suddenly it clicked in his brain and he lifted his head, "You don't think that she is…"

Patrizia nodded, "Oh, yeah, she is!"

Stefan laughed, "Man, how could you not notice that your wife is getting in the heat? She is smelling five miles against the wind!"

Evolution can be funny sometimes. It had brought bunnies the erect walk, the opposable thumbs, a sentient brain, but the mating program in each female bunny still worked as in old times. Three times a year, every doe that is not pregnant feels a strong urge to find a partner and mate. This happens in order to keep the population high. In modern times, when bunnies did not face extinction any longer, scientists had developed a medication to fool the doe's body about being pregnant, so she was able to skip the cycle.

Jack had lived a rather solitudinal life, therefore he had never experienced what it was to have a doe in the heat around. Now, after Stefan had said it loud, he felt like a fool. He turned his head and looked over to Judy who had sat down at the pool's rim and had her feet in the water. Her strange behaviour now made sense to him. But did she really want to go that far? With him, technically still a stranger, when she had always pointed out how devoted she was to Nick? Jack couldn't believe that. He needed to talk with her, at the small deck at the ship's stern, where no listening devices were installed.

Judy gasped when she put her feet in the pool's water.

"Geez, it's ice cold!"

Vicky just dipped her feet shortly, then preferred to put her feet on the rim. She looked at the kids playing at the shollow end, some five yards away.

"How could they play in that cold water?", Vicky wondered.

Indeed, a labrador puppy splashed around. A little kitten in a red bikini stood in the knee deep water and shrieked and giggled every time she got hit by the water. A tiny squirrel girl in a swimsuit stood on the rim, still dry, watching the other two sceptically.

"It's gorgeous!", yelled the dog, "Come on, Malena, or are you afraid of water – as all cats?"

"Cats are not afraid of anything!", piped the cat back, "I just need more time…"

She inhaled deeply, then jumped forward, head first. When she resurfaced, she gasped, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod… so cold!"

When she had recovered, she turned around to the squirrel, "Hey, Natalie, what are you waiting for? You must help me fight Lasse!"

The squirrel stemmed her fists in her hips, "Heck, do you guys know how long I need to get my tail dry again?"

She swiped her enormous bushy tail from left to right, it was much longer than the rest of her body.

Judy sighed, "I envy them… I want to go in the water, too. I feel so hot…"

"Haven't you brought a swim suit?", asked Vicky.

"No, I haven't thought that it got so warm outside since yesterday… and I'll need half an hour to go to our cabin and back… awww, fuck it!"

She pushed herself off the rim and vanished fully clothed in the water.

"My god, Judy!", said Vicky shocked.

Judy dived half way through the small pool, then her head went up again.

"Come in, Vicky, it's not so bad once you're in!"

"I don't know…", said Vicky.

"Hey, bunny-lady, have you forgotten your swimsuit?", yelled Lasse, the labrador.

Judy grinned, "Yeah, sort of…"

Then she dived back to Vicky, grabbed her feet and pulled the shrieking girl in the water.

"Ahh, Judy! That was not fair! Oh god, I'm freezing to death in here…"

"It's my turn now!", yelled the squirrel, took some steps back, ran on all fours to the edge and jumped right in the middle of the pool.

"Water fight!", yelled Lasse, "Pred versus prey!"

"No fair!", squeeked Natalie, "Two versus one!"

"Come on, Vicky, let's help her!", said Judy, her eyes glittering full of excitement, "No, two versus three!"

"Yeah!", said Natalie, "That's more like it!"

"Pah!", grunted Lasse, "Two bunnies and one squirrel are no match for us, are they, Malena?"

The cat jumped on the dog's back and Judy lifted the squirrel on Vicky's shoulders, then dived between Vicky's legs and lifted them both up.

"We'll see… let's go!"

"No claws, no claws!", yelled Natalie when they attacked.

After half an hour of desperate fighting the fun ended when Malena's mother, an elegant looking tabby cat appeared and shooed her out of the water.

"Your lips are blue and your teeth are clattering!", she reprimanded her daughter.

"Awww, mom!", Malena said.

"No more words, young lady! Out! Now!", she took a look at Judy, "I hope you haven't pushed the poor bunny in the water!"

"No, mom, Judy is cool, she jumped in herself!", grinned the little kitten, "Bye Judy and Vicky! Bye Natalie and Lasse!"

"Bye!", waved Lasse back.

When the cat lead her shivering daughter past Jack's chair, he could hear her say, "There are so many nice kittens on board, no idea why you hang around with a _dog_ … and making friends with _prey_ , for cryin' out loud!"

"But mom, Lasse is funny, I like him! And Natalie is soooo cute…"

"She's a squirrel, everyone knows they like hoarding stuff… and those bunnies… the big one looked like a real slut…"

They marched out of earshot, but Jack had to admit, that the cat had a point… Judy hopped elegantly out of the pool, her wet white blouse clinging to her splendid figure leaving no room for fantasy.

She pressed water out of her ears, saying "Wow, this was fun!"

"Erm… darling, maybe you should use a towel…", Jack said cautiously, throwing her a white fluffy towel from a stack next to his chair.

"Sure", Judy said and without further ado she remover her blouse. Patrizia's jaw dropped and Stefan grinned while shaking his head. Vicky looked shocked and pressed both paws on her mouth. Judy took the towel and wrapped it around her chest.

It had been a long time since she first went tu the Naturalist Club on her first day as a cop with Nick. After they got married, they had went there some ten times and Judy had got used to nudity. She had read that Europeans are much more relaxed about this, but their travel companions were obviosly an exception.

Before someone could say anything, Jack quickly got up. "Let's have a stroll, okay?", he said and was glad that Judy nodded and followed him.

After ten minutes they had reached the stern. Jack checked quickly with his phone, if the place was still free of listening devices, but even if they had installed any, the noise from the propellers below was so loud, Jack had to literally shout at Judy.

"Tell me, why have you allowed yourself to get in the heat?"

Judy's eyes became two slits, her voice was pure acid, "Oh, at least Mr Super Secret Agent has managed to figure _that_ out! And just in case you have missed the biology lessons at grammar school: The heat comes, if I allow it or not!"

"You know perfectly well what I meant – there are hormon pills you can take…", started Jack.

"Yeah, but if I did that, the other bunnies around us would still have noticed my change of smell… the pill can not prevent that. And how suspicious would it look, if I take a pill to prevent the first heat I get in after the wedding? That nosy bitch Pat would have been the first to gossip about that!"

"But do you really expect _me_ to… well, you know…"

Judy grabbed him and shoved him against the rail. What hurt him more was the disappointed look in her eyes.

"I do expect _nothing_ from you! What _I_ expect, well, I can get it from any other male bunny on board, except Stefan, I would never do that to poor Vicky. If you are such a coward…"

Now it was Jack who got angry, "Coward?! Just because I respect your relation with Nick?"

"But you hate Nick! Let him out of this! How stupid are you, really, do you think Nick considers me his private property? He would never did that! It was actually him who reminded me of the fact that my cycle was due these days!"

"Really?", Jack was flustered, "And he… he had nothing against it?"

"Well, he said he did not like it, of course, but he thinks it would be good for me to have sex with a bunny… for the first time", she added quietly.

"Guess what, it's _my_ first time, too!", Jack said.

"Ohhh, how cute, a virgin!", grinned Judy.

"I'm not a virgin… I just never had sex with a bunny…"

"WHAT?! You had… with… another species? Tell me about it!"

Jack looked over the vast ocean, "Maybe it's not the time to…"

"Hell, I can't think of a better time! What was her name?", Judy inquired.

Jack sighed, "Her name was Skye. She was an arctic fox and…"

Judy grabbed him by the neck and pressed him hard against the rail.

"Heck, Judy, careful, you nearly pushed me over…"

"You fucking biased hypocrite!", Judy screamed at the top of her lungs, "A fox? Do you remember how you glared at me full of disgust when you found out I am married to a fox? You think I made a huge mistake by marrying him!"

"I have never said that!"

"But you _thought_ it, admit it!"

"Maybe I did. But not because he is a fox. I just… I didn't liked him, that's all!"

"And now you like him?"

"Let's say, I have learned to respect him", answered Jack hesitantly, "After I knew him a bit better… he must love you a lot. And he is a great father from what I have seen, so he can't be a bad guy. But you are changing subjects! What if you get pregnant? How tolerant will Nick be about this?"

"Hah, we checked that! I have taken these stupid pills for nearly all my life, the chances of getting pregnant on the first heat after stopping is a billion to one. I just got in the heat twice in my life, first time when I was twelve years old and the other time, some years ago when I forgot…"

Her face turned into a wide grin and Jack asked, "What happened then?"

"I tried to suppress it… big mistake. That clever fox found out all about it… and we completely destroyed a hotel room because I couldn't control myself… broke four of his ribs and nearly lost one of my front teeth…"

"Wow…", was all Jack could say.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't wait that long this time…"

She grabbed him again, but this time she kissed him.

"Do you really want it, Judy?", he said.

"Yes. You worry too much. In the end, it's just mating."

This night, they did not appear at the dinner table, neither did Jack for the gambling session. Neither Stefan nor Patrizia, not even Vicky had expected differently.


	13. Chapter 13 - Murder on Board!

**Chapter 13 – Murder on board!**

Bunnies had never lived in monogamy. Most mammals did not. The idea of having only one partner for life came up relatively late in the history of sapient mammals. During medieval times, those animals who started Christianity were mostly living monogam.

Today, most bunnies did marry but still were free to mate with other partners – especially during the heat, that grips every doe three times a year. Judy herself had some twenty half-brothers and –sisters, most (but not all) from the time when her mother Bonnie was still very young. Stu had accepted them, as all bucks normally do.

Judy knew perfectly well, that she was an exception in many ways. She had never embraced the heat, had kept her virginity for a long time as most of her sisters became sexually active around twelve, which was quite usual for bunnies. Marrying a fox, a predator, had been 'the icing on the cake', as one of Judy's sisters had put it.

If bunnies had lived monogam, they had already become extinct a long time ago.

Foxes, on the other hand, were solitudinal living creatures, most of them dislike the idea of matrimony even today. Nick's parents had been a rare exception as they had actually been married. Foxes and especially vixens like to roam around. This ensures their genetic diversity as foxes have relatively few chromosomes. Therefore it was important for vixens to mate with as many different partners as possible. This explains why among the 2,000 foxes in Zootopia are only six registered married couples.

Judy knew that Nick was a flirter who had 'a soft spot for felines' as Nick himself used to describe it. But that was okay, as long as he did not hurt her.

 **Day 3 on sea**

At 3:30 am, Judy and Jack were huddled together in their bed, exhausted, but unable to sleep. They had a whispered conversation into each other's ear, not even the most sensible microphone could have picked that up.

"Are you disappointed?", Jack asked.

"No. But to be honest, I prefer foxes.", said Judy.

"You might not believe me, but I'm glad to hear that."

Judy giggled. After a while, she asked, "Do you want to tell me about Skye?"

Jack sighed, "There's not much to tell. I was assigned a mission in Arabia, she was my contact mammal. It was love at first sight. We both went crazy. I had two days and one night with her. Then she got shot and died in my arms."

"Oh, Jack, that's horrible! I… I can't tell how sorry I am! It is different, but I know how I felt after Nick got shot and I didn't knew if he would survive."

"A part of me died, too, that night. I screwed up the mission, the Service had to get me out of there… bad things happened, I don't want to talk about it. D, the director of the Secret Service, gave me a second chance and covered it all up."

Judy did not know what to say, so she remained silent. However, Nick had been right about her needing to know how it felt to be with a bunny.

During the day, they actually acted like nothing had happened and so did their three travel companions. Judy asked Jack if he would join her on the land trip scheduled for tomorrow, but Jack declined. He was in a very silent and thoughtful mood and Judy respected it, so she bought her ticket alone. Her body returned back to normal as the heat seemed to be satisfied, however, a kind of emptiness was in her, something she had never felt with Nick. How she missed him and the kids!

At that time in Zootopia, Nick was packing the kids' stuff together as they would go to Bunny Burrows this afternoon. As he was officially in Japan to join in the officer's exchange program, he had spent most of the time at home to have some family time with his two girls. He smiled. What a shame he would never see Jack's face when he found out that Judy is getting in the heat!

Two hours later, when they were on the train, his two girls were unusually silent. Keira even requested to sit on his lap, something she hadn't done for a long time, especially not in public.

"I don't like it!", she said, "I don't want you and mom go away!"

Nick kissed her gently on the forehead, "Keira, dear, I don't like it neither, but think of all the fun you gonna have with your cousins and grandma and grandpa…"

"Yeah, but…", she didn't continue but rubbed her face against Nick's shoulder instead. Leia was looking out the window, saying nothing, her face blank.

When they arrived, some forty bunnies were waiting for them, forming a huge crowd around the two vixens and there was a lot of laughing, shouting and playful biting. Nick hugged Bonnie and Stu, then they loaded the extensive luggage on the pick-up truck. When they reached the farm, a ghostly white bunny waited in the kitchen and Leia flew in her arms. Fay, Judy's blind sister, was very attached to Leia and vice versa.

"Wow, Leia, I think you are taller than me now!", Fay laughed out.

"But… may I still sleep in your room?", Leai asked shyly.

"Sure!"

While Keira loved to sleep down in the burrow with her cousins, Leia preferred to share bunks with the usually silent and shy Fay who had lost her eyesight after a sickness and was now very rarely leaving her room.

When Leia happily hopped from Fay's lap to join her sister and Bonnie had stopped trying to enforce some discipline on the wild bunch, Fay embraced Nick and kissed him.

"I've missed you, my dear friend!", she whispered in his ear, "Are you still mad at me?"

Nick laughed, "Oh, Fay, you're asking this any time, it's four years now and I told you a hundred times that I am not mad at you."

"You have heard from Judy?", Bonnie asked, but Nick shook his head.

Bonnie nodded, "Yes, I know, you are not supposed to have contact…"

They had told Bonnie and Stu the truth as Fay would have found out anyway, even though she said, that the mysterious power inside her that made her know things before they happened, was declining.

"And I am happy about it!", she said, "I don't want to know things!"

"However…", Nick said later, when they were alone in the spacious kitchen, "Can you tell me anything…"

"Hell, Nick, you perfectly know that it is not working this way!", she stared at him with her empty white eyeballs, "I am no fortune teller on a fun fair… and I hate seeing things, because I can not change them! I know that you will be in grave danger, but you don't need to be gifted to guess that!"

The girl who once had threatened Judy to tell her the exact date, time and circumstances of her and Nick's death, refused point-blank to continue with this subject, so Nick told her funny stories about the kids instead and Fay's mood became brighter.

Nick spent one night in Bunny Burrows before he kissed his kids good bye and went back to Zootopia. For the first time in many years he spent a night alone, it was strange for him and he got up early. He had no duty at ZPD as he was officially in Japan nor had he other things to do except killing time in front of his computer or TV and thinking. Soon he would start to Carnivora, the big unstable country in South America where predators ruled. He would spent one night in Ushuaia, then board the ship. And then… well, he would see about that. The plan was to play a typical con artist tricking money out of the wealthy passengers. He had never been on a ship before, but a guy who used to 'work' on these ships once told him: "These ships, they are like a small town… with one exception: no police!"

 **Day 4 on sea**

In the early morning hours the ship anchored in front of Maio, one of the Cape Verde islands, a small group of islands exclusively inhabited by cows, who had decided to continue their old fashioned ways far away from civilization. However, as the economy was not very prosper, they allowed tourists to come on the island to sell them dairy products and craftings.

At breakfast, everyone was abuzz about the planned day trip into this strange culture from the past, even more was Judy surprised when she found out that she was the only one of her table who had booked a trip.

"I am not interested in cows!", had Patrizia said and Stefan wanted to have a quiet day on deck. Vicky, on the other hand, looked excited to go, but her mother had spoken against it.

"She can't walk alone on a strange island, she still gets lost on the ship twice a day!", her mother said strictly.

"But I will take good care of her, she won't get lost when she is with me!", Judy tried.

"Oh, please, mom, can I go with Judy?", Vicky asked.

To Judy's surprise, Pat nodded smilingly, "Sure, you can go with Judy!"

When Vicky had jumped up excitedly and ran away to get dressed for the trip and Judy ran after her as Vicky took the wrong direction, Stefan looked curiously at Pat.

"I thought you were against Vicky being together with Judy all the time!", he said, "I think, Vicky could learn a lot from Judy, these two are so… different!"

"Oh, yes, they are, thank God!", snorted Pat, "I let her go, because she won't get far. Deadline for booking the trip was yesterday and without a ticket they won't let her off the ship!"

Stefan looked at Jack, rolled his eyes and shrugged. Jack smiled. _But she is with Judy and Judy is an expert at bending rules,_ he thought.

As the small harbour of Maio couldn't possibly hold a giant ship like the MS Germania, small tenders had come alongside and the passengers were standing in six queues to board them, while clerks checked their tickets.

Judy stopped in front of a black mungo displaying two rows of sharp teeth while grinning at them. He took Judy's ticket, read the barcode, then scanned Judy's bracelet. A green lamp flashed on his laptop.

"And you, miss?", he asked.

"Oh, she is with me!", Judy said, "She is under eighteen!"

"Well, she still needs a ticket, Mrs. Kreuzberg", he answered politely.

"Okay, my fault, I have forgotten to got her one. Just add her name to the list."

The mungo grinned. "I am sorry, ma'am, but this is not so easy. I am not allowed to let anyone off this ship without a proper ticket, you see, and…"

Judy had reached for the paw of the mungo in an affectionate way, but a stinging pain told him that she had her claws out.

"What are you doing?", he hissed, "Stop that, it hurts…"

"Awww…", piped Judy in a high-pitched voice, sweet as honey, "And we don't want to hurt each other, won't we?"

He looked confused at her face. Her eyes… he had never received a look like that from a _bunny_ , he started to sweat. Someone back up yelled, "Why aren't we moving?"

The pain in his paw intensified as Judy pressed harder. He couldn't get his paw out of hers as her razor claws would rip his paw to shreds if he tried. He blinked unbelieving at a single drop of his own blood falling from his paw on the neatly printed passenger list on his desk.

"O… okay, ma'am, okay… but don't tell anyone! And make sure you two check in with me when you come back!", he whispered.

"Oh, sure, we will, thank you so much!", piped Judy, finally releasing his paw. She grabbed Vicky's arm, the poor girl stared open mouthed at the mungo, they climbed down the gangway and hopped into the waiting boat.

Six hours later, they arrived back at the ship after visiting mystical ruins of the ancient inhabitants, their bellies stuffed with delicious dairy products and two big bags full of souvenirs. The memory chip of Judy's camera was bursting with photos. Judy looked for the mungo clerk, but he had already seen them and waved them panically to his desk. Judy checked in, thanked him and put something in his paw. He twitched back, afraid of her claws, but she had given him a tiny cow figure, made from wood, with a bobbing head.

"For your excellent service!", Judy grinned.

"Thanks!", he said without any enthusiasm.

One hour later, Xavier had just closed all programs on his computer and was about to call it a day, when his phone rang. Xenia's sharp voice, "Come to my cabin! Now!" It was obvious from her tone, that this was no private invitation. He quickly went through his daily work. Had he done something wrong? Something that made her mad? Only one way to find out…

In Xenia's cabin, he found her sitting at her desk, arms and legs crossed. On her desk sat a mouse on a tiny chair, his minuscule laptop was connected to a beamer projecting on a screen behind her.

"Sit!", Xenia commanded. No good sign, she treated him like a dog again.

The mouse was Frank Remscheid, head of the surveillance department. He wore no uniform as he was officially a passenger, but shorts and a T-shirts. His head was jerking back and forth nervously as he had undoubtedly noticed the bad mood the First Officer was in.

"What are you waiting for?", Xenia hissed at Frank, "Tell him!"

Frank cleared his throat, "Two days ago, I received a note from you, regarding a passenger named Judith Kreuzberg, a bunny from the U.A.K., married to a German…"

"We know that! Go on!", shouted Xenia.

"We… we had her on 24-hour surveillance and after two incidents, we are now sure, that she fits in the L4-raster, that…"

"L4?", interrupted Xavier, "What does that mean?"

The mouse looked at Xenia hesitantly, but she said, "Tell him!"

"Our employer, Viktor Maybach has published a certain theory, according to that there are some prey animals that have developed… let's call it 'predatory attitudes' in lack of a better term", Frank explained, "Herr Maybach considers himself one of them. According to his theory, this happens due to a certain enzym in the genetic structure, called L4."

The mouse watched as Xenia drummed with her claws impatiently and continued.

"We have a directive, that we should look for certain behaviourisms that could indicate a prey having the L4 enzym. Herr Maybach ordered us to report such behaviour immediately. Two days ago, there was a dance in the Small Saloon, and we filmed this scene here…"

He typed something on his tiny laptop and a clip showed on the screen, showing Judith, another bunny and a weasel having an argument. The clip had no sound and Frank explained, that the music had been too loud to pick up conversations.

"Wow!", said Xavier as Judy smashed the weasel on the table. He seemed to threaten her, but then he retreated with the other one. The clip stopped., showing a still with Judy baring her teeth.

"Had… had she attacked him?", asked Xavier dumbfounded.

"Obviously!", said Xenia. "Next!"

A new clip started, this time on the outside, Xavier recognized the mungo Jose Scavilla, one of the clerks checking out passengers, so this must have been shot today before the land trip. That smaller bunny was with Judy again, she had no ticket, so Jose told her she couldn't go. But then… the sudden change in Jose's face would have been funny under different circumstances. And this time, he could hear her voice, she said, "And we don't want to hurt each other, won't we?"

Something clicked inside Xavier's head. His eidetic memory had recorded every face and every voice he had ever seen or heard, and these words… He squeezed his eyes shut and called, "Stop, stop it! That voice…"

"But, you still…", started Frank.

Xenia smashed her paw on the table, only one inch away from the mouse, "You heard him, stop and shut the fuck up, stupid rodent!", she hissed at him and he quickly pressed a button to stop the video.

Xavier's mind raced at maximum speed.

 _Some years ago… Zootopia… his car, the red convertible… he was sitting inside, looking down… his wallet was on his lap and he pulled some bills out… that voice, saying "… that's 30$ for speeding, sir, you should really look at the signs, this is a 65 mph zone… you don't want to get hurt, do you?"_

 _It was that voice, saying nearly the same words… in his memory, Xavier looked up, a bunny leaning in his open window, a bunny in a cop uniform, smiling brightly, taking the bills out of his paw, handing him a receipt._

"That's her!", he shouted, "I _knew_ I know her! She was that cop! She had dyed her fur, she is grey, that's why I couldn't recognize her! She gave me a speeding ticket!"

He opened his eyes again and saw Xenia and Frank looking at him confused.

"She is that cop! She is kind of famous in Zootopia, first bunny in ZPD, solved some mayor cases, then married a fox!"

"A fox?", said Frank, "A _bunny_ marrying a _fox_? Are you sure?"

"Her name!", said Xenia, "Do you remember her name?"

He closed his eyes again, his eidetic memory playing back the scene. On her chest was a golden name tag, reading…

"Wilde! Judith Wilde! She even uses the same first name!", he shouted out.

Xenia was typing rapidly on her own keyboard, looking on her screen.

"Wow, she _is_ famous! Her husband is a fox named Nicholas Wilde, a cop, too! Check all foxes on board! And what about her so-called husband, that Jakob Kreuzberg?"

No one looked at the mouse anymore.

"Okay, if you don't have any further questions for me…", said Frank and shut his laptop.

"As a matter of fact, I have!", grinned Xenia, "You had been ordered to report any L4 activities immediately… how come I hear about that incident at the dance for the first time today? 48 hours later?"

"Well… I… I mean, we… we had not been sure… she might be under influence of alcohol…", stammered Frank. He went on with his excuses, but Xenia was not listening, she had her black tablet computer with the red stripe in her paws and started typing on it.

While Frank raved on, Xavier became mad at him. That squeky voice pierced his ears, the lame excuses insulted him, insulted Xenia, insulted all of them working on this ship trying to make everything work… that little, worthless piece of prey had wasted 48 hours…

Xavier did not noticed that his mouth had opened, his tongue lolled out while he started to pant rapidly.

But Frank heard yapping sounds behind him and turned around.

"Xavier, what's wrong with you?"

"Shut up, you piece of shit! You worthless prey!", yelled Xavier, while Xenia grinned and continued typing.

"Wait a second, that is going a bit too far!", Frank said, "I will file a complaint with the captain, and…"

"Kill him!", Xenia said.

The mouse jerked around, "Are you kidding? This is a prank, is it? It's not funny, I…"

But Xavier had jumped out of his chair already, pouncing at the mouse, that squeeked and tried to ran away, but Xavier hit him with his paw and Frank landed dazed on the desk, where Xavier grabbed him with his fangs and shook him back and forth until a snapping noise could be heard when the spine of the mouse broke. He continued shaking the dead body, while Xenia laughed out loudly and clapped her paws like he had just performed a funny magic trick.

Then she took the carcass out of his mouth, used a single claw to rip the clothes off it and held him by his tail so he dangled in front of Xavier's blankly staring eyes.

"Well done, my friend!", she purred, "And now… head or tail?"

Xavier could only stammer, "T… tail…"

Xenia lifted Frank's body by the tail in her open mouth and bit him in half. She threw the other half in Xavier's direction, he caught in clumsily and stared at the lower torso in his paws. Blood was oozing out and Xenia yelled, "Eat him, quick, I don't want to have his blood all over my carpet!"

He stuffed him in his mouth. The sensation was great. The taste of blood, the crunching sound the bones made when he started chewing, turning the former head of surveillance into a bloody goo. All his senses were at maximum intensity while he swallowed.

Xenia watched him, licking her paws. "What a shame, these mice are so small… barely enough to be called a snack…"

Xavier was sitting still on his chair, unable to talk, shaking, his heart pounding like crazy. Xenia took him by the paw and guided him towards the door.

"We have an awful lot to do, but I think you should rest a bit, my dear. You did a wonderful job, rest assured, I will talk to Victor about you and I would be very surprised if he doesn't give you one of these…", she pointed at her tablet computer on her desk.

He was still in a stupor, when she suddenly giggled.

"Wait, you have some blood on your chin…", and she started licking him with her rough cat tongue and that caressing made his blood boil immediately. He lifted her up, sat her on her desk, forced her head back and thrusted his longue tongue into her open mouth, enjoying her taste of fresh blood.

She gasped, "Wait, wait, darling, I can't breathe…"

She pressed him away, wiping her mouth, giggling.

"Wow, you're such a hot-blooded lover… but wait, darling, your day will come soon…"

Without further ado, she shoved him out of her cabin.

Fifteen minutes later, Xavier stood in his own tiny cabin walking up and down, panicking. He had just committed a most heinious crime. He was a murderer, no, worse, he _ate_ a fellow mammal, the worst crime that could be committed. He would go to jail for the rest of his life… what had gotten into him, for heaven's sake, Frank had been his colleague, he had known him for month, even chatted with him during work… he ran to the toilet and tried to vomit, but he just coughed and retched. He pressed his hot face against the cool tiles. Xenia! That cursed witch, she had somehow forced him to kill Frank. She was a witness, but she had eaten half of him herself… but he couldn't proof it. There was definitely no video surveillance in the cabin of the First Officer. He sank on his bunk, face hidden in his paws. Why had he tried to kiss that feline bitch? And why brought the memory of their awful meal and that stupid kiss a rock hard erection to his sweating body?


	14. Chapter 14 - White Bunny, Black Bear

**Chapter 14 – White Bunny, Black Bear**

[Private Notice: I am totally okay with everyone who does NOT like the way this story evolves. You are free to drop this story anytime, no problem. But please refrain from sending personal insults to my account or posting them in the review section. I had to remove some reviews (most of them anonymous guest reviews), because they contained insulting comments. I have nothing against criticism, but please remain fair. Thanks!]

 **Day 5 on sea**

After a rather sleepless night, Xavier Rodriguez unlocked his small office cabin at 6 am. Still, he expected to get arrested for murder any second. What should he do? Turn himself in? Speak to the Captain? That old polar bear did most probably know about the things going on on this ship. And if not, he would most probably be stopped by Xenia, that cursed wildcat.

He sighed. Maybe it was the best to just go on as if anything was normal. He turned on his computer and checked his mails. The first that popped up was a mail from Xenia to all the crew, announcing that Ricarda Neumann, a female gerbil, had been appointed new head of surveillance department, after Frank Remscheid had left the ship on Cape Verde due to 'the sudden death of a family member'.

Xavier snorted, "Yeah, the son of his sister's mother died!"

The mail wished Frank all the best 'in these sad times' and thanked him for all his good work.

"Good work, my ass!", Xavier said, shaking his head.

He was not even through with all his mails, when all of a sudden the door slammed open and a dark voice yelled, "Paws up! Freeze! You're under arrest!"

Xavier jumped up and his paws flew in the air, when Xenia came in laughing her butt off.

"Fuck, Xenia, that's not funny!", he yelled at her.

She wiped a tear out of her eye, "Sorry, darling, but you should have seen your face! Hilarious! Oh, come on, stop pouting, we have a lot of work to do, but we can have lunch together, okay?"

"Lunch?", he yelled, pushing her away, "Oh, sure, let's have lunch! We can eat that Ricarda girl when she messed up, too!", he said sarcastically, pointing to the still open mail on his screen.

"Naah", said Xenia grinning, "Gerbils are better for dinner. We could have her liver with some fava beans and an old bottle of Chianti!" She pulled back her lips to bare her fangs and made "Tss, tss, tss, tss, tss!" befor she broke out in a fit of giggles.

"Very funny, Dr. Lecter, very funny… let's just hope that Frank had no real friends on this ship, they might get suspicious!", grumbled Xavier.

"Oh, don't worry, he was very unpopular. But now, let's get to work! I already have checked out all foxes on board, we have only three, two vixens and an old geezer, I have checked out personally that they are genuine, no cross-dresser or costumes, we are talking of foxes, you know how cunning they are. That black bunny, I have no idea. His identity is obviously fake, but his papers are genuine…"

"Maybe Secret Service?", Xavier said, "They have tried already…"

Xenia shook her head, "No, I don't think so. Why should they use a cop bunny? They have much better options. No, I think he's just a dummy, maybe another cop. I have checked his surveillance tapes, totally boring! Sleeping, eating, lying on deck, playing Skat with that old bunny bloke sometimes… obviously not a good lover either, having sex with his wife only one night out of five. Forget him!"

She sat down on his desk.

"I called Zootopia Police Department this night, talked to a guy named…", she looked on her tablet, "Clawhauser. I pretended to be from the Youth Department, I found out on the internet that the Wildes had adopted kids, so I pretended to need to talk to her in some legal matters regarding the adoption. He told me that she and her fox husband are in Tokyo for an exchange program."

"A lie!", Xavier said.

"Obviously. I got the number of the ZPD's chief, a guy named Bogo."

She checked her watch, "It's rather early, let's find out, if this Bogo is an early bird…"

Xenia took out a cell phone and pushed some buttons. She explained, that if the police tried to backtrack the phone, it would lead to the Tokyo Police Department. She dialed and switched the speaker on. A female voice answered.

"Hello, Chief Bogo's office. I am Lieutenant MacMahon, how can I help you?"

Quickly, Xenia grabbed a pen and wrote 'She's a cat!' on Xavier's notepad. When she started speaking, Xavier was surprised, as she suddenly used a strong japanese accent.

"Ohayoo gozaimasu, MacMahon-san. I am Niishi Kirotake, from TPD, fourth district. I have an inquiry regarding Judy Wilde!"

"Erm… yes… go ahead!", was the hesitant answer of MacMahon and Xavier scribbled 'She knows something!' under Xenia's note and Xenia nodded.

"Well, it's about that cover story you made up, that exchange program, we were to pretend that the Wildes are here, you know…", Xenia said and Xavier held his breath. This was a shot in the dark!

"So, what about it?", MacMahon asked and Xavier made a thumb-up gesture. Jackpot!

"Now, we have received quite a lot of mail for Mrs. Wilde, some of it looks really important… I just want to know where to send them!"

"Oh, you can send it to the ZPD, I'll take care of them."

"Do you know when she is back?", asked Xenia.

Some seconds passed, then "I am sorry, I can't tell exactly…"

"Thanks, MacMahon-san, you've been a big help!"

She hung up and Xavier had forgotten all of his sorrows. He turned around and searched the official website of the ZPD.

"There she is: Katherine 'Kitty' MacMahon!", he pointed at a picture, "You are right, she's a cat! How did you know?"

Xenia grinned, "We cats can hear this. Can't you tell when you are talking to another coyote?"

"Erm… no…", he admitted.

Xenia was clicking her claw against her teeth.

"We need to get the truth out of her… and quickly, we need to know all about Wilde's plan before we reach Antarctica. Somehow I don't believe the police is behind all this."

"Why don't we just kill her?", asked Xavier.

"Because she might be an L4. Viktor would kill _us_ if he finds out. He is searching for a prey with L4 for years and we kill it the same day we found it? No way! We'll leave her alone, watch her, but don't harm her."

Xavier continued clicking internet pages, then he said, "I bet, that Kitty cat knows all about her plans!"

"Why's that?", asked Xenia.

He pointed at a wedding picture of Judy and Nick.

"So what?", Xenia frowned, "I admit, nice dress."

"Look at the mammal to her right. Her best girl!"

Xenia took a closer look, "That's Kitty! So, they are friends, how cute! Great job! But that cat is in Zootopia…"

Xavier grinned, "… and I happen to have an old friend there, a wolf who is an expert in interrogating mammals!"

The wildcat had her eyes wide open now, "Can you trust him?"

Xavier hissed, "No, he's a criminal, a murderer, to be exact. He's working for the mafia, really bad-ass guys. And he's not cheap!"

"That's all I need to know! Call him!"

The passengers on the ship, including Jack and Judy, had gotten accustomed to the routine on board. While Judy enjoyed the good food, a swim in the pool, watching an opera in the big theatre or a movie, she secretly counted the hours before Nick would board the ship.

 **Day 6 on sea**

The air was getting colder again as the ship made more southern latitude. While Judy and Jack were having lunch, Nick boarded a plane with just one item of carry-on luggage. He would fly to Ushuaia via Cuba, Panama, Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires and change identity three times in order to leave no trail, better save than sorry. During the long exhausting flight in economy class, he thought about all he had learned about Carnivora in the last days.

The country was very instable, a year long inflation had left very few winners and a lot of losers. Police was corrupt and crime was everywhere. The current government lead by a General was blaming prey for nearly everything and only the hardest of them had remained there. Rumors about prey getting eaten by predators were spreading.

He had visited an old friend of him, Chester, a bear who had lived in Carnivora years ago. Chester had warned him, "Nick, the bad guys of Zootopia are little girl scouts compared to those over there. Mammals are killed every day, the police does nothing. A prey's life isn't worth a penny, you can buy real meat at every corner. Be careful, trust no one, old friend!"

 **Day 7 on sea**

The ship had stopped at Buenos Aires, but neither Jack nor Judy were in the mood for a land trip. The waiting started to get on their nerves as they were condemned to do nothing.

Xavier the coyote felt the same as he had not been able to contact his friend in Zootopia who should interrogate that cop cat friend of Judy. Xenia pestered him as she got nervous, too. She still had not reported the L4 possibility to Viktor Maybach, as she wanted to tell him about Judy's plan at the same time. Xavier thought that this was much too risky and the discussion about it had ended in accusations and hissing before Xenia had left and slammed the door.

In the meantime, late at night the same day, Nick finally arrived at the shabby airport of Ushuaia and all he wanted was a bed. No one checked his fake passport or his small bag, no one asked any questions. After half an hour of marching, he reached the harbour, a desolate, dark place. Gleaming eyes stared at him out of the dark corners.

Nick was wearing a black suit with a black shirt and a huge pair of shades, despite the darkness. His night vision compensated for the dark glasses. He had used a coloration to make his red-orange fur darker, his face was now a dark reddish brown.

Close to the pier he found a four-story shabby house with a neon sign spelling 'HOTEL'. The glass door had been smashed and in the frame stuck a piece of cardboard reading 'Enklish spokken!". Nick entered. The lobby was a small room with a dirty floor and a wooden desk. On the desk sat a squirrel, black, wearing no clothes. His left ankle was chained to a ring on the desktop. The poor fellow was extremely thin, but his eyes glistened when he saw Nick and he started yelling "Customer, customer!"

"Shut up, you fucking piece of prey shit!", yelled a voice from behind a small door. Nick heard a toilet flush, then a fox with beige fur appeared, slamming the door behind him. He was much smaller than Nick, with big ears and Nick was reminded a bit of his old friend Finnick, even though this guy had twice the size. He wore a dirty pair of grey sweat pants and no shirt. His left eye was missing, the socket was a bloody crater.

The fox tried to hit the squirrel, but it squeeked and shot fast as lightning to the other side of the desk and back.

"I told you a hundred times, this is a fucking hotel, we have no customers, we have guests!", yelled the fox at him.

"Yes, boss, yes, boss!", the squirrel chanted happily and Nick was sure the small guy was pulling a leg.

For the first time, the fox looked at Nick. His eye wandered up and down Nick's suit and sunglasses. He belched loudly. A smelly cloud of alcohol engulfed Nick but he didn't flinch.

"A room!", Nick just said.

The fox spat out and threw a book and a pen in Nick's direction, "Name. In there."

It was an ancient looking guest book and Nick filled out a page. He handed the book back.

The fox looked at the page Nick had filled out, "Okay, Mr. _Vulpur_ ", he pronounced the name with a smirk to show Nick that he knew it was false, "You have room 202, stairs up, first one to the right."

He reached under the desk and held a room key in Nick's direction. When Nick reached for it, the fox pulled back.

"And for 2,000 pesos in advance we will be good friends!"

The fox gave him a false grin that vanished when Nick pulled out a large bundle of 1,000 pesos notes, held together with a rubber band. Greedily, the fox stared at the bundle that contained at least 200,000 pesos. Nick flipped out two bills with his claw and threw them over the desk, where they quickly vanished in the paws of the fox.

"Erm… er…", he stuttered, still staring on Nick's money, "Hey, sir, if you need anything… dope or alcohol…", he lowered his voice, "… or meat… or vixens, even pre-teens… my name is Juanito, just dial 7, I can get you anything!"

"Yeah!", screamed the squirrel excitedly, "You have hit the jackpot here! I'm telling the truth, don't I, boss?"

"I told you, don't talk to the customers!", yelled Juanito.

"Hey, boss, they are guests, no customers…", started the squirrel, and when Juanito started throwing things, Nick took his key and his bag and left the scenery to climb the stairs.

The room was exactly as expected: smelling of urine, the thin mattress was a cockroach cemetary and the brown stains on the wall looked like an animal with diarrhea had pressed his behind against the wall on his way to the toilet. Nick could hear insects buzzing behind the closed bathroom door.

"Home sweet home!", he sighed. He barred the door with a chair, placed the bed cover over the bed and laid down on top of it, in full clothes – he wanted to touch as little of the bed as possible. He didn't dare to sleep in here as the door and the lock were bad jokes; so he was napping, waiting for the sunrise.

 **Day 8 on sea**

The shower in Nick's room was tiny and dirty, but at least the water was hot and after a long shower, Nick felt refreshed and much better. He walked down the stairs without making a noise, after he prepared his door so he would know when someone entered it during his absence. He seriously doubted that this 'hotel' had a room service. The squirrel was lying fast asleep on the guest book, while Juanito was nowhere to be seen. Nick sneaked out and wandered through the small town, mainly to kill time.

Ushuaia did not look much better in broad daylight; the place was shabby and a lot of houses and stores along the main roads were boarded up. Except for the squirrel at the hotel, he hadn't seen a single prey animal til noon, but countless predators wearing guns instead. Sometimes, he heard shots fired in the distance. No one cared. No police siren could be heard.

Around noon, Nick was getting hungry and he entered a diner that looked halfway civilized. It was nearly full, Nick sat down at the last free table. He got some curious looks from the predators eating there, they all seem to know each other. He still had his pitch black sunglasses on and ignored the other guests. He checked the menu. One guest, a huge grizzly slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Hey, I ordered a mug of coffee half an hour ago!"

The door to the kitchen opened and a skinny wolf with a dirty apron appeared.

"Shut up, Ramiro, you ordered it two minutes ago, it's on its way!"

The wolf turned around, "Maria, bring that drooling idiot his coffee, before this retard smashes my table!"

The other preds started laughing and the bear named Ramiro grunted.

The door opened again, the waitress, obviously Maria, came out and Nick nearly dropped his menu.

Maria was a bunny with snow white fur and extremely long ears. He estimated her to be sixteen, maximum. She wore hot pants and a revealing tank top, both in red. She was slender and beautiful, but her body showed signs of abuse, her ribs could be clearly seen under her skin and her fur had dots that looked like scorch marks from a cigarette. Her eyes were huge and dark brown. Her face looked hard and bitter. She carried a tray with some mugs of coffee with swaying hips to the preds.

When the bear got his coffee, he yelled "About time, fucking prey slut!", and shoved her with his mighty elbow. The poor bunny girl crashed against the counter and to the ground, but managed to hold the tray without even spilling a drop of coffee. Quickly she got up and served the other preds, not without getting insulted and shoved.

On the outside, Nick kept his cool demeanor, but he was cooking inside. He wanted to get up and teach these jerks a lesson, but he knew perfectly well, that he stood no chance against them – he was by far the smallest pred in the room, and they were more than ten and he was alone.

When Maria finally walked away, she limped – she had hurt one of her legs. She came over to his table.

"Sir, would you like to eat? Or just coffee?", she asked him. Her voice was sweet and high, but as well full of sadness – and fear.

"I would like some coffee, please", Nick said, "and the chili."

She looked at him astonished and Nick bet that he was the first customer who spoke politely to her.

"Milk and sugar, sir?"

"Just sugar, please!", Nick smiled.

"The chili is surrogate meat", she said in a low voice.

"Of course!", Nick replied and a cold chill ran down his spine. If she had to point this out, obviously most other places here offer real meat. Nick made a mental note to be extremely cautious where and what to eat.

She gave him another puzzled look as he was smiling at her, then hobbled back in the kitchen.

" _Just sugar, please!"_ , said one prairie dog, mimicking Nick's voice, "That stranger seems to be a prey-lover!"

The other jerks were laughing, but Nick just looked out of the window.

The grizzly turned around, "Hey, stranger, what's wrong with you? Do you love prey? Do you want to fuck that stupid bunny?"

The others burst out laughing, "A fox fucking a bunny!", roared the prairie dog.

Nick said in a calm voice, "You have your manners, I have mine!"

The prairie dog spat out, "Manners, pah! These prey, they have no manners! Especially bunnies! Pathetic, all they can think about is the next fuck! And we _are_ nice to Marie, aren't we, guys? Hell, we haven't eaten her – yet!"

The wolf looked out of the kitchen again, "Yeah, but just because you guys don't want to get your fat asses up and pick up your drinks yourself!"

"Damn right!", the dog said and the group burst out laughing again.

"Well," the bear said, "let's just hope your _manners_ don't make you propose to her!"

Nick just smirked back to the bear. He knew that everything he would answer could lead to a fight and that was the last thing he wanted.

Marie came back with a tray. The prairie dog started to whistle the wedding march and the other idiots laughed again. Nick could see, that the inside of Marie's ears were blushing when she put his plate and his mug in front of him. She said nothing and Nick did not thank her as he didn't want to provoke more comments.

Fortunately, the guys stood up and yelled for the check. Nick started to dig in. The chili was astonishingly good as was the coffee. He managed to not look to the bunch of jerks until Ramiro yelled in a mocking voice, "Oh, Marie, I am so sorry, where are my _manners_? I forgot to tip you!"

He spat her right in the face. A big lump of greenish brown phlegm landed on her cheek, right next to her mouth. More laughing while Marie's eyes widened in shock and disgust. She ran away past Nick who could see her beautiful big eyes swimming in tears.

All eyes were on him now and it took Nick a lot to not react in any way. He just continued eating as if he had seen nothing, even though his blood pressure reached record values.

The bear stared at him, obviously disappointed as he got no reaction, but the prairie dog said, "Come on, guys, you know what happens to us when we are late at the boss's place!"

They filed out of the diner.

Nick had lost his appetite, but finished his chili and coffee nonetheless. Marie came back to get the dishes.

"You should be careful, sir", she said in a toneless voice, "These guys stop at nothing."

Nick took his glasses off and looked in her face, "Why do you stay here?", he asked, "Go away, try to get to a more civilized country!"

She gave him that puzzled look again, then her face turned into a sad smile.

"You are very nice, sir – and naïve. I can't leave and I need the money. My father is sick and needs expensive medicine. And…", she looked ashamed, "I just gave birth to a litter of four and must take care of my babies."

Her head nodded in the direction of the kitchen, "Mario is nice to me and he's paying me – most of the prey here has to work as slaves without getting paid at all!"

Suddenly, Mario's voice could be heard from the kitchen, "But don't tell those jerks that I pay her or they will come here and destroy my place!"

Marie nodded at Nick's empty dish, "That's 480 pesos, sir!"

Nick pulled out a huge roll of 1,000 pesos bills and pressed it in her paws. "Keep the rest. Buy some medicine for your father."

She peeked inside her paw and gasped, than quickly closed her paw again and run to a door with the sign 'Privada' on it – to hide the money, as Mario may not be so nice and let her keep so much cash, thought Nick.

When Nick got up, she came back, whispered, "God bless you, sir!" in his ears and vanished into the kitchen.

Back in the hotel, Nick found out that someone had searched his room. Whoever that was, he had done a good job in placing everything back in the exact same spot – nearly. Nothing was missing, but all the valuables had been in Nick's pocket anyway. So he barred the door and made another nap. When he woke up, it was already dark outside.

As Nick was hungry again, he asked Juanito at the front desk where he could get a good meal.

"There is a bar some five minutes away", It's called 'The Saloon'. It's not much, but it's the only place where you can get warm food at this time. You see, most places shut down as soon as it is dark outside. The Saloon does not, but on the downhand, quite a lot of bad guys and riff raff is hanging around there, understand? I would be very careful, Rockefeller. A lot of mammals have eaten their last supper there, if you know what I mean!"

The Saloon was a spacey bar that really looked like a saloon out of an old wild west movie. Wooden interior, long bar, lots of bad guys – and signs. The owner must be a sign fan as wooden signs were everywhere, reading 'No real meat', 'No spitting' and 'No open guns'. Behind the bar, a large sign read 'In God we trust, the rest pay cash!'.

Unfortunately, the gang from the diner, including Ramiro, the grizzly, were drinking at a large table just in the center of the bar. Someone yelled, "Hey, look, Mr. prey-lover!"

Nick ignored them and sat down at a small table from where he could watch them. He didn't dare to sit with his back to them.

"I heard you gave Marie a blowjob for a tip!", roared the bear. All other conversations in the bar had stopped. The other gang members giggled. Ramiro had a large knife in his hand, he was busy cleaning his claws with them. Everyone stared at Nick, waiting for an answer.

Nick smirked at Ramiro, "At least I need not resort to spitting!"

That was not the most original answer, but the quickest Nick could come up with. Instead of waiting for Ramiro to react, Nick yelled at the bartender, "Hey, one whiskey and a steak with beans!"

The bartender, an old stoat came to his table, "Sir, I'm sorry, but that's 1,300 pesos. Please understand, under these circumstances I need it in advance."

Nick grinned and payed the stoat. The prairie dog came to him and sat down.

"Listen, stranger, you should pay a drink for all of us, you know, it's tradition for newcomers…"

"I am no newcomer, I'm just passing through, I'll be gone tomorrow!", Nick said loud enough for everyone to hear.

The prairie dog grinned, "Well, that's what you think. I think you'll be gone much earlier. See that old wolverine over there?", he gestured to Nick's right.

"That's Jorge, our carpenter and undertaker – hey, Jorge, tell us, do you have a fox-sized coffin on stock?"

"Yeah", grunted the bear, "or do you have to work an extra shift tonight?"

The gang laughed and Nick noted that most other mammals were getting up and sneaking towards the door. The situation was getting more and more out of hand.

"Okay, pals", said Nick trying to deescalate, "I don't want any trouble. I'll pay a round for you guys and tomorrow I'll leave, no one will get hurt and everyone's happy. Sounds like a deal?"

The prairie dog nodded, "It's worth a try!"

Nick waved the barkeeper, who rushed to the table of the gang with a tray full of glasses. Nick lifted his glass, the others did the same but while Nick drank, they turned their glasses around and poured the whiskey on the floor.

The poor barkeeper trembled when he served Nick his steak. He had lost his appetite, but started to dig in nonetheless. It was so quiet that the squeaking noises of Nick's knife on his plate were very loud. Nick couldn't prevent starting to sweat, but he tried to stay cool and focused. This was indeed like an old wild west movie and all of this just because he had been not rude to a bunny!

When he was finished, he slowly got up. Now came the critical part. To reach the door he had to turn his back to the bear with the knife. Walking backwards was no option here. When he turned around, he noticed that only four other mammals were present, the rest had vanished.

Nick fixed his eyes on the guy standing right opposite of him. When he saw his eyes getting wide, he knew the bear had thrown his knife.

As a fox, Nick had very good reflexes, his life on the streets of Zootopia and the ZPD training both had done their part, too. He twirled around and bent his knees, quickly enough, the knife had flewn two thirds of its way. What followed, happened in half a second and Nick had no time to think. He grabbed the knife in mid air by the hilt, continued his spin around and used the energy of the full spin to threw it back.

It was impossible to kill a grizzly bear with a thrown knife – except you hit him directly in one eye. Nick had aimed for the right eye and missed – he hit the left one.

When Ramiro fell forward, face down on the table, ramming the knife even further in his brain, Nick had just stopped turning.

It _was_ like in a wild west movie, but someone had pressed freeze frame. No one moved. Everyone stared. Nick walked to the bartender who stood there with his mouth wide opened. Nick threw some bills to him.

"Sorry for the mess. Shit happens."

He wanted to add another killzinger for Jorge, the coffin-maker, but decided against it. Instead he walked to the door in a long semi circle to keep an eye on the rest of Ramiro's gang, but still no one moved.

As soon as he was outside, he started running to the hotel. He didn't care how cowardish this would look in a wild west movie. No one followed him. He sneaked through the hotel door and heard Juanito talking into an old fashioned telephone.

"He did… what? He killed Ramiro? … Are you insane? What could _I_ do against someone who kills a grizzly with a fucking knife? … No! I'll definetely not…"

When he noted Nick standing right in front of him, he smashed the receiver on the phone.

"Oh… hello, Sir… back so soon?", he stammered with a false grin.

Nick nodded, "I'll need a quick check-out early in the morning. How much I owe you?"

After he paid, he turned around to climb the stairs and heard the squirrel scream, "Hahaha, you should have seen your face when that fox stood right in front of you!"

"SHUT UP! I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!", screamed Juanito.

"Let's see, you're standing in a puddle, boss! You pissed your pants! Admit it, boss! Admit it!", the squirrel continued.

Nick locked the door, then used all his muscles to move the heavy wardrobe in front of the door. He used the bed to bar the window. If they really tried to get him this would just buy him some time, but better than nothing. He sighed and sat on the chair. This would be a long night…

At the same time, a phone call from the MS Germania to Zootopia finally went through and a coyote and a wolf talked for about half an hour before a deal was made. That deal would change the fate of a lot of mammals…


	15. Chapter 15 - A Bunch of Schemes

**Chapter 15 – A Bunch of Schemes**

 **Day 9 – Ushuaia**

Nick stayed awake the whole night. He expected an attack every minute, but there was an eerie absence of activity outside, that made Nick wonder what was afoot. Once, around 2 am, he had heard some commotion, mammals outside talking and once he had heard someone say 'el culpeo', the spanish word for 'fox'. However, a short time after the sunrise, Nick heard the loud horn of a ship. The MS Germania had arrived and Judy with it. The ship was of course too big for the small harbour, so he would set over with a tender boat. He checked the clock – one hour left. He washed his face, took his small bag, put on his sunglasses, moved the wardrobe from the door and walked down the stairs for the last time.

Juanito stood at his front door, stiff as a stick and the eyes of the squirrel were wide with anticipation. Something was going on here. Juanito gave him a false grin.

"Good morning, sir! You had a nice night?", he said, but his eye focused on something behind Nick in the dark corner of the hall.

Nick whirled around. A dark shadow, large as a tree lingered in the corner. A grizzly! Nick clenched his teeth. He had literally no weapon, the bag was the only thing he could use, but he could as well use a Q-tip for fighting.

"Relax, stranger", said a dark voice, rumbling so low it made the floor boeards vibrate below Nick's feet.

The bear made one step forward, Nick made two steps back. The grizzly wore an old fashioned suit with a blue tie. Nick saw no weapon, but a giant mammal like this would need none against a tiny fox.

"Nicholas Vulpur?", he asked and Nick nodded cautiously.

"I am Greg Winterbarger, the chief of police for this district", the bear said.

"Well, I do not envy you!", smirked Nick, still uneasy.

The bear nodded sadly, "I hear that a lot." His english was good, but stiff as if he had learned it out of a book without speaking it a lot.

Winterbarger pulled out a pair of glasses and balanced them on his nose. With the glasses he looked completely different, more like a bookkeeper than like a killer and Nick relaxed a bit. An old notepad was now in his hand and he fumbled with it, some sheets were falling to the ground without him caring.

"A mammal died; I'm sure you understand, that it is routine to ask some questions – even if there's nothing to ask. I already talked to the guys in the saloon. Ramiro's death was a case of self defense if there ever was one. He threw – you threw back."

"Have you been… related to…", Nick asked hesitantly.

Another sad nod, "Ramiro was my cousin. You cannot pick your relatives. He had chosen this path years ago. I just talked to his momma, my aunt. Even she holds no grudge against you, after she found out what happened. His friends however… you are a very lucky fox. This gang Ramiro used to hang around with, is a paid gang, paid by Senor Valdez, the big boss of this shithole. He is out of town and without him they are brainless. My cousin was not the brightest, but he was leading them in Valdez' absence. Without him, they had not enough… what's the word, stamina? to attack you."

Another loud signal from the ship's horn and the bear turned his head.

"You're going with the ship?"

"Yeah."

The bear sighed loudly than squeezed his notepad back in his pocket without having written down a single word.

"Get lost. Don't come back here. No one had this much luck twice."

"I'm gone already!", Nick hurried outside, before Winterbarger could change his mind. Without any more obstacles, he reached the pier, boarded the small boat after showing his papers.

On deck of the MS Germania, Judy tried as hard as possible, but even with her keen eyes she couldn't make out any details on the approaching boat. Vicky stood next to her, looking at the distant city.

"I wonder why there are no trips to Ushuaia. Some other passenger told me, it is very dangerous there, especially for prey! There are rumors about meat eaters…"

"Child, don't be ridiculous!", interrupted her mother, "Meat eaters! We are not living in the medieval anymore! You watch too much of these horror movies…"

They wayched the tiny boat docking alongside the giant cruiser. Two or three passengers left the ship and a handful boarded. Judy thought she saw a flash of dark red fur, but maybe she was seeing things.

Without saying a word, she walked away from the others, humming and skipping with joy. Nick was on board! He was travelling third class, but she knew exactly where his cabin was. Unfortunately, there was no way of getting to him without getting seen by one of the surveillance cameras… or was it? She thought back and forth. She couldn't possibly ask Jack as he would forbid straight away, but Judy was not giving up so fast. Was there a way? She had no one who could help her… Vicky was no help. Pat? Hell, no. And Stefan? The old guy seemed friendly enough, but she couldn't reveal her secret to him… even if he _wanted_ to help, what could he do?

Suddenly, she remembered something… someone, to be precise. Quickly, she ran to the noteboard and checked the entertainment program for tonight. Bingo!

During lunch, Jack remarked, "Judy, you seem in a very good mood today!"

"Well, I am!", she said grinning.

"So, what are our plans for tonight?", Jack asked, "Do you like the theatre, or…"

Judy interrupted him, "But dear, I thought, Stefan would go play Skert tonight…"

"It's 'Skat', dear, and yes, he invited me, but I thought…"

"Ah, well, it's a vacation, so why don't you go and have fun?", Judy smiled.

Stefan beamed at her, "Excellent! Then I have my partner back!"

Jack looked puzzled but remained silent.

"And what will we do?", piped Vicky.

"Oh, I don't know… I'm sorry, Vicky, but I think, I will take it slow this night… maybe reading a book or going to the sauna…"

Vicky looked sad, but Judy couldn't care less. The plan she had developed had started to come into action…

 **Day 10 at sea**

While Nick had refilled his empty sleep account from noon til 8 pm, Judy had spent the entire evening in her cabin, reading a book – or at least trying to concentrate on one. Jack had gone to play cards after dinner. For her plan she had to wait until at least midnight.

At 12.30 am, she tried to look bored, zapped through the TV channels, then, as if she had an inspiration, walked out of the door to deck E. In the lower deck's big saloon, was another dance party going on. The place was quite crowded. Judy danced alone and checked the surveillance camera positions until she found something that suited her plan. She had to sit down at a certain corner table, but it was occupied by a kissing dog couple and this time she must keep a low profile and could not simply bully them away.

Another important asset was a certain mongoose, the waitress who had witnessed the incident with the weasel guys. Her name was Jacqueline and they had talked on two or three occasions. Judy's entire plan depended on Jacqueline's cooperation. Judy couldn't see her, and her heart sank, but then, at 1 am, she appeared behind the bar and replaced the tomcat who had served until now.

Finally, the couple left the table in the far corner and Judy quickly marched over to claim it. Not long and a smiling Jacqueline approached her.

"Hey, Judy, why sitting so far away? You can sit at the bar!"

"Thanks, Jacky, but I prefer this table tonight… could you take this away?"

Judy had a folded napkin in her paw and gave it to the puzzled waitress. Everything depended now on how quickly the young mongoose would grasp the situation. She looked at the folded napkind with the words 'READ IN PRIVATE!' scribbled over it with a black marker.

"Oh!", she said. One second, two seconds… The waitress smiled, "Oh, yes, of course, mammals throw their trash everywhere. What do you want to drink?"

Judy exhaled when she noticed she had hold her breath all the time, "Oh, just a water, please…"

Jacqueline marched over to a colleague behind the bar. "Manfred, be a darling and take over for me for a minute, I forgot to go to the restroom!", she said and Manfred nodded. The mongoose quickly sprinted to the employee's restroom and unfolded the napkin in one of the very rare places where no cameras were installed.

' _Jackie, please help me! I needed to go to cabin G243, it is VERY important! Is there a way to get me there WITHOUT a camera recording me? Love, Judy, PS: Destroy this napkin!'_

Jacqueline flushed the napkin, then ran back to the bar. Her mind was racing for some minutes, then she had a plan.

Judy, meanwhile, tried to established eye contact, but Jacky did not look up, serving other guests. Has she understood? Was she willing to help her? It could cost her job… When she finally came to Judy, she put the glass of water on another napkin. Judy drank, than pretended to dab her lips with the napkin. In tiny letters she read, ' _Stretch your legs. For more room, move chair back to wall. And 1ft to right'_

Judy hesitated. Her legs? This made no sense… Had Jacky understood her message? She was German, so english was a foreign language for her…

However, she did what she had been told.

Five minutes later, a smiling Jacky brought a huge glass with a red liquid, some balls of ice floating on top, decorated with various fruit.

"You seem to have a secret admirer!", she grinned.

The magnificient drink came with another napkin, reading in minuscule letters ' _Wait 2min, be clumsy, spill drink. Make a huge mess! I tell you, make way, squeeze to wall, go to left 4yd, as close to wall as possible! Wait there!'_

Her heart raced as she finally turned the cup over. It smashed and glass shards, red sauce, ice balls and fruit spread over the floor. Some mammals laughed but they all made way to not step in the mess. Jacky came with a bucket and mop, looking angry.

"Move there!", she yelled at Judy. She squeezed against the wall and shuffled to the left. Her paws suddenly felt a tiny crack in the wall. A door!

Meanwhile, Jacky had ordered some others to help her and had vanished. All of a sudden, the door behind Judy opened and she fell in a dimly lit corridor. Jacky grabbed her before she could fell, then quickly closed the door. "Follow me!", she said.

The service corridors were small and a real maze. Jacky turned left, right, left again, down the stairs… But on every intersections were signs with numbers and letters.

"To come back, just follow the signs 'E-74', that's the door I just opened for you!", Jacky whispered when they reached another door.

"This door leads into the main service corridor. They have cameras there, but with this", she gave Judy a small laser pointer, "you can disable them for some 15 seconds. The cameras are very light sensitive, when you hit them with the laser pointer, they will shut down. Run quickly to the left, the first door on the right is a service entrance close to cabin G243. This door opens with a number code, it's 468733, okay?"

Judy closed here eyes and tried to engrave the number into her memory.

"Remember, you only have about 15 seconds! And don't forget the laser on your way back, too!"

Judy embraced the mongoose, "Thanks, Jacky! You're awesome!"

Jacqueline grabbed her paw, "But you need to tell me who's waiting in cabin G243, okay?"

"That..", Judy said, "That's kind of complicated… a long story… but I will later, promised!"

Judy opened the door slowly and peeked carefully around the corner. The camera was mounted under the ceiling, a black half dome. She aimed and switched the laser on. A loud click was audible. She started running, reached the other door. She typed in the code, rushed through the door and slammed it shut.

She now was in another corridor, the door she just used was the dead end. A sign on the door read 'No entry, crew only!' in three languages. Only ten steps and she stood before the door marked G243, Nick's cabin. With a pounding heart, she knocked. The door opened and a well known smirking face appeared.

"Hey fluff-butt, somehow I expected you to come and risk our lifes and the entire mission… your brown-white fur looks awesome, by the way, Carrots…"

He pulled her in and closed the door. Ten seconds later, the door opened again and the 'Do not disturb!' sign was hung at the knob.

It was well after 4 am when Jack entered the first class cabin. He undressed and went to the bathroom as silently as possible to not wake Judy up. But when he tiptoed in the bedroom, he noticed their bed empty. He switched on the lights. He had a bad feeling. He knew she would pull any stunt to meet with that darn fox of hers… now he could only hope that she had enough cleverness to somehow meet him without being seen by Big Brother. He went to bed, switched off the lights and waited.

Short after 6 am, dawn started to break through the cabin windows, Judy came back. Jack had heard nothing, but he smelled her. He was glad the surveillance cameras hidden in this room could not record smell. The pungent stench of fox made his nose cringe. At first he thought, Nick had come in person, but it was Judy who had this odor on her.

When she put her head next to his, Jack had to breathe through his mouth. He forced himself to move his head even closer to hers to whisper in her ear.

"You need a shower, dear. Your perfume is a bit… strong!"

"I love it!", she just answered and Jack could hear her smiling.

Jack turned around, knowing that it made no sense talking to her right now, in that mood. And could he blame her? What had he done if Skye would still be alive and on this ship? Would he care for danger or for the mission? But all that was lying behind him and all he could do was trying to get some hours of sleep without suffocating from the stench of the fox's body juices.

 **Some hours earlier in Zootopia**

Kitty MacMahon yawned loud and extensive. She had been so immersed in her work that she forgot time. It was 7 pm and she had started working at 8 this morning. Currently she worked on a new shift plan that would be more flexible. She had developed the idea with Bogo and worked now on the first realization. Bogo had left at 4 pm to meet with the mayor and Kitty had used the time to work without interruptions. She saved her files and shut down the computer. Now she noticed how tired she was. She planned to walk home, have dinner and get straight to bed.

It was still quite busy at the ZPD at this time. Melinda, a very elegant sable, sat at the reception desk as Clawhauser was off duty, he would start his shift at midnight.

"Overtime again, eh?", she smiled when Kitty walked by, "Don't overdo it, sweetheart, cats need more sleep than the average mammal!"

Kitty smiled back, "I'll try to remember, Melinda. Have a nice night!"

"Four hours and the rest of this one!", answered the sable yawning.

Kitty walked in the locker room, got out of her office uniform and dressed in her civil outfit. She had to walk eight blocks to her small single apartment. As usual, she was taking shortcuts through some narrow alleys.

It happened in one of these alleys. Kitty had no warning, she heard nothing, saw nothing. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head, then blacked out completely.

 **At sea**

As soon as Judy had vanished, Nick took a shower, not because he did not like the smell Judy had left, but because he had work to do. He dressed with white pants and a long white shirt. A lot of crew members wore a similar outfit, so Nick hoped he could disguise himself with these clothes. Judy had given him a valuable start bonus: the code for the door at the end of his corridor. The cabin G243 was the cheapest third class cabin on the ship; it laid inside at the very end of the passenger section. It was tiny, but clean, his neighbor to his right was a locker room holding room keeping carts, to his left was a loud A/C convector that made his bed vibrate when it kicked in every fifteen minutes.

The idea with the laser pointer was brilliant, however, Nick planned not to use it; when a series of cameras along one path would malfunction, it would be too obvious. He rather tried to blend in. Nick had found no cam in his room and none on the corridor in front of it.

He typed in the code and walked through the corridor as if this was the most natural thing to do. When he passed a door with the word 'Umkleide' written on it, he entered. The room contained a sink, a long bench and some twenty lockers. Opposite to the lockers stood a rack with hangers full of different uniforms in different sizes. When he translated the sign above it correctly, these were dirty clothes waiting for the laundry service to get it. He found a cook outfit in his size, not too dirty, complete with a cook's hat. Perfect!

Five minutes later, he walked through the corridors, trying to remember the layout of them. He greeted other crew members and they greeted back. The ship had some thousand crew members, a fox more or less was not too suspicious. He hadn't met a single prey, all crew member he had seen up to know where predators. Just when he started to think about that, he ran into an inportant looking dog, a Great Dane, with a lot of stripes on his white uniform.

"Wer bist du denn? Wieso hast du keinen Ausweis?", he asked Nick. Nick's German was good enough to know that this guy asked for his identity card. He had seen other crew members wearing them, a small white chart with photo and name on it. The guy had his own card dangling on his massive chest, identifying him as 'Fourth Officer Michael Krause'. Nick could speak German rather well, but now he told the Dane shyly and in broken German that he had been hired in Ushuaia as a cook and there had been problems with his ID card and now he was on his way to the purser to fetch it, but he had gotten lost.

The Dane nodded and switched to English, "Ah, always the same problems with new hires; I told them a thousand times to not let newbies run around with no card!" He gave Nick directions and reprimanded him for wearing a dirty uniform than marched on, still cursing.

The small office Nick had been sent to was occupied by a small badger wearing huge glasses sitting in front of a computer typing in record speed. Immediately, Nick judged the badger and decided he had to approach him differently than the officer.

He stormed in as if he had run and yelled in fluent German, "My ID card! Is it ready?"

The badger stared at him, "Card? Here? Wait…", he looked around on his desk that was plastered with sheets and forms.

"No… what's your name?"

"Gerhard Vortmüller", said Nick, "The new cook! Hired in Ushuaia! Hurry up, pal, my shift starts in five!"

The badger opened a program, typing in a password. While he entered it, Nick focused on the reflection of the clerk's paws on the keyboard in his huge glasses.

"But… I don't have you in the computer! I don't know anything about new hires in Ushuaia! Where's your contract?"

"Upstairs, where I signed it – they told me I would get a copy later. Officer Krause told me five minutes ago to come here and get my ID card!", Nick said angrily.

The badger stared at him wide eyed, "Krause himself told you to…?"

"Yeah, the Great Dane!"

"Fuck! But I don't have any… not even… oh, shit… normally, the chief purser should insert your date in the computer as soon as you sign the contract!"

"Speed up, man! I am not interested in who messed up this shit!", gnarled Nick showing his teeth.

The badger sighed, then asked for Nick's name again, date of birth and other personal details. He took a picture of Nick with the camera attached to his computer and inserted a blank ID card in a printer.

"Thanks, buddy!", Nick said when storming out, now with a valid ID card attached to his chest. Now it was much easier to explore the vast corridors. He found another office where one purserette was busy coding passengers' bracelets. Nick had hidden his blue third class bracelet under the long sleeve of his shirt, but he needed a white one to get access to the 1st class area. Well, he would take care of it tonight, when the office was empty. He walked back to his cabin. Time for breakfast. And maybe another nap as Judy's visit had been a nice surprise and all, but also… very exhausting.

 **Zootopia**

When Kitty woke up, her first thought was _I had an accident and now I'm in hospital._ She wasn't able to move and bright neon lights shone above her. Her head hurt like hell. Slowly she opened her eyes. She was in a white tiled room and was half sitting, half lying on what looked like a dentist's chair. To her astonishment she saw that she was naked. Next to her chair stood a long table and on one side she saw her neatly folded clothes. The reason for her immobility was quickly found; her legs and arms were bound to the chair with silver duct tape.

"Oh, look, Sleeping Beauty is finally awake!"

A dark voice, low but soft. She heard steps and a wolf appeared in her field of vision. He was dark grey, his fur was very long and shaggy. He had a bare chest and wore a pair of sweat pants. He had light green eyes that looked full of sympathy.

"Did I… did I had an accident?", Kitty asked, her voice was raspy and she coughed.

The wolf gave her a reassuring smile, "Yes… yes, you could say that!"

"Who are you?", Kitty asked.

"Oh, you can call me…", he gave her yet another smile, but this time a cold shiver ran down Kitty's spine when he bent forwards and whispered in her ear, "… the big bad wolf!"


	16. Chapter 16 - Dances With Wolves

**Chapter 16 – Dances With Wolves**

[WARNING: Explicit content! If you don't like it, don't read it! You have been warned, no complaints!]

When Judy awoke, she stretched and yawned. It was cold in here, she saw that Jack had opened the door to the balcony and stood outside. The air was chilling now that they slowly approached the Antarctic Circle. She quickly got up and took a shower. After she dressed, she walked humming and smiling on the balcony, right next to Jack.

"Angry?", she whispered in his pitch black ear.

"Not any more", he whispered back, "at least I know now where the saying 'smells like a fox burrow' comes from."

Judy giggled.

"Are you feeling better now?", Jack asked loudly when they were back inside their cabin.

"Much better. I needed a night like that… now I'm hungry. Breakfast?"

"Sure!", he said.

He had not said the full truth, he was still quite mad at her. Her visit might have endangered their whole mission. Concerned, he asked himself if their secret still was secret anymore.

"What do you mean, she was not on the screen?", asked Xenia.

Ricarda, the gerbil and freshly appointed head of the surveillance department used a laser pointer to mark an area on Xenia's large screen.

"Ma'am, you know that we can't put cameras everywhere. We always have blind spots. She sat down at this table. Then she spilled the drink…"

The gerbil jumped through the clip with a tiny remote in her paw.

"See? The waitress tried to clean up the mess and pushes her right in the blind spot of the camera. You see her leg there… but now she moved and is gone."

"I see that, I see that… but what happened then?"

"Well… nothing!", Ricarda said, feeling uncomfortable.

"For how long?"

"Two hours, thirty-nine minutes", answered the gerbil.

"And you want to tell me that she didn't moved out of that 'blind spot' all the time? No dancing? No drinking? Not even using the restroom?"

"Apparently not. Twice, the waitress was there… wait a sec…", she fumbled with the remote until she had the picture, "here. She brought her a drink, obviously talking to her. But Frau Kreuzberg did not touch the drink. Twenty-six minutes later, here, the waitress came back, looked confused, they are talking again… she points at the drink… shrugs… takes the drink back. That bunny didn't seem to like the drink. Or maybe she wasn't in the mood. She acted strangely for the whole night."

"And you are sure that bunny sat in that corner all the time?", asked Xenia.

"I had to assume it… or else, the waitress had talked to the wall."

For some seconds both looked at the screen again.

"See, here she comes back… she is getting up, she waved the waitress goodbye… 5:46 am, she left. She walked straight back to her cabin, where her husband was already sleeping after coming back from his card game at 4:14 am."

Xenia sat there, thinking, being quiet for a long time. Suddenly she lifted her head.

"Rewind to the point where she reappears!", she said. When the screen showed Judy standing up, she yelled, "Stop! Look at her! She looked like… like she had a fight or something… her clothes… her fur… all messed up! Split screen, compare this picture with the last complete pic of her _before_ she vanished in that corner!"

It took the gerbil two minutes.

"Here! Look at that! She looked well groomed here, but two and a half hours later, she looked like shit!"

Ricarda sighed, "Well, ma'am, maybe she fell asleep in the corner. She slept, turned around, messed up her clothes and her fur… that would also explain her long immobility and the fact that she didn't touched her drink – and did not dance or talked to no one."

"It is so loud in there that we can't have any audio and you think she fell asleep? Are you serious?"

Ricarda nodded, "With all due respect, ma'am… do you have any other explanation?"

Xenia was furious, but in the end she had to admit that she had not.

"If a situation like that occurs again, if she walked again in one of your 'blind spots', you'll do two things: notify me immediately and send someone to check on the situation! I want to have her under surveillance every fucking second of the day! Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Dismissed!"

Kitty's head was still swimming, but she knew she was in trouble. The wolf went on carressing her body.

"They say canines and felines don't go well together…", he whispered in her ear, "but I am different. I don't want to bore you with childhood stories, but I always loved the smell of felines. So different, so independent… I think, most canines _envy_ cats, don't you think? And you… you are the most beautiful cat I've ever seen!"

He started kissing her forehead, her cheeks, his long tongue left wet marks on her fur.

"That's… that's very nice of you!", Kitty said. Maybe if she was friendly, she could convince him to let her go, but Kitty estimated the odds for that to happen astronomically small.

He stood up, looking at her, his face now full of pity.

"Unfortunately, my costumers want to have some answers of you… I should not mix business and private life… however, I think I will break my rule of 'Work first, pleasure afterwards' in this special case!"

He sighed, then grabbed under the chair, fetching a metal box with a cable that vanished under the chair. When he pressed one button, Kitty was lifted up. Then the back rest tilted backwards, so now she was lying flat on her back. The next button… _and her legs moved apart!_ Kitty bent her head forward, to see that there where actually _two_ foot rests, one for each leg and they moved upwards and came apart, spreading her legs… this was not a dentist's chair, but a gynocologist's!

 _Okay, Kitty, stay calm… this guy is going to rape you. You know what this means. It had happened to you before, it's not nice, but it will pass… don't give him a reason to do worse!_

Kitty had been merely 13 years old when her model trainer started to rape her. She had endured years of humilation as her mother had tolerated the abuse in order to push forward her daughter's model career. But that had been a cat. This was a wolf and not a small one. Her worst fears came true when the big bad wolf dropped his sweat pants and walked naked right between her spreaded legs. His paw started to rub her and his tongue lolled out of his snout.

"You are so beautiful…", he said, then laid his massive erection on her belly, "Meet the little bad wolf!", he grinned.

 _That will not work,_ thought Kitty, staring with big eyes. It was not only extremely big but also strangely shaped and pulsating like that thing from that 'Alien' movie that popped out of that guy's stomach. She squeeled in pain when his paw pressed inside of her.

"Wow, you cats have narrow and slippery roads!", he giggled, "But where's a will, there's a way…"

The next fifteen minutes were pure hell for Kitty. She was hardly able to breath as the heavy wolf was lying on top of her, forcing his sloppy tongue in her mouth. He hammered his huge prick into her with all the force he had and every time Kitty was able to scream her pain out, he yelled, "Yeah, bitch, you like that! All cats are sluts! Scream louder, it really turns me on!"

But the worst was yet to come. When his muscles cramped and his eyes went big and his panting intensified, Kitty thought, _Finally, he is done, it's over!_ But as soon as he reached his climax, a pain exploded inside of her, worse than anything she had experienced before. It was like someone had stuck a red hot iron inside her, turning it, poking around and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Woo-hoo!", yelled the wolf, "Man, what a great fuck! I bet you never had an orgasm like that, had you?"

 _This asshole really thinks I enjoyed it!_ Kitty was near to pass out. But her tormentor continued babbing along in this strange sweet voice.

"And I bet you also didn't know that little bad wolf gets bigger after he had finished his job! Wolves have to stay together for some half hour after enjoying each other! No way to pull him out of you, bitch! Nature is clever, in the good old times every member of the pack fucked a female and this trick was performed to give the cum a head start! Interesting, don't you think?"

Kitty was sure she would die. Finally, after some twenty minutes, she felt little bad wolf shrinking inside of her and his daddy pulled him out. Blood oozed down her legs, she could hear it dripping on the floor. She was sobbing and her tears were wiped off gently by the wolf's paw.

"Oooh, don't cry, baby! I know, it's over, but, hey, maybe we could repeat this later?"

 _You dirty bastard, rot in hell! How nuts must this guy be to really think I liked it?_

The wolf had put his pants back on.

"And now, back to business", he said, "My friends want to have some answers out of you. And I am an expert in getting the correct answers out of everyone…"

He opened his bag and placed some forty instruments on the table next to Kitty's clothes. They were small, made of silver metal and it took Kitty quite a while before she realized that they were chirurgical instruments – mostly knives.

"Did you know, darling, a cat has 88 facial muscles – or 89, to be precise, when you count the tongue. But I would be stupid cutting the tongue as you need it to tell the truth! And it's a big mess, by the way. Each time you lie to me or try to trick me or don't speak – snip, snip… you know what I mean."

Kitty broke out in cold sweat.

"Hey, but I'm talking and talking… a pic says more than a thousand words, true or not? Let's see…"

He took a tablet out of his bag, humming happily while he swished through it's contents.

"Oh, here she is! A cat like you, 88 facial muscles, remember that… much older and not half as beautiful as you are, but still a kitty-katty, just like you!"

He turned the tablet around and Kitty stared at a cat's face, looking as frightened as she felt right now. That cat had been in the exact same situation, bound to the exact same chair with the same silver duct tape.

The wolf turned the tablet around again.

"She had hidden money from some drug deals… thought she could outsmart a big gangster boss, but after muscle number 26 – snip, snip! – she started spilling the beans…"

When he showed her the next picture of what looked like a wax mask half molten, Kitty lost it. She screamed so loud, the wolf dropped the tablet and pressed both paws on his sensitive ears.

"NOOOO! NOOOO! DON'T DO IT! I TELL YOU EVERYTHING, PLEASE, DON'T DO IT! PLEEEEEEEEEASE! PLEE…"

All air left her lungs when she got hit in the stomach by the wolf's fist. He pressed her mouth shut.

"Fuck, bitch, you nearly ripped my ear drums! Now, shut up until I start asking, be nice, tell the truth to the big bad wolf and you walk out of here as beautiful as I carried you in, okay? But make one more fucking sound… snip, snip! Understood?"

Kitty nodded, sobbing, while tears streamed out of her eyes. When he removed his paw, she bit her lips so hard they started to bleed.

He took out a paper note pad and – she couldn't believe it – an old fashioned pair of half moon reading glasses.

"Okay, what have we here… do you know Judith Wilde, the bunny cop?"

Kitty nodded.

"And is it true that she is Japan right now?"

Kitty was sure that, whoever hired this mad wolf, must have found out something. It makes no sense sticking to the Japan cover story. She shook her head, still sobbing.

"Good, my dear, I see, you have understood the rules of the little game we play. And I guess you like your face as much as I do…", he sighed, "would be a shame to destroy such a masterpiece of Mother Nature… I'm getting old, deviating again… see… so, when she is not in Japan, where is she?"

"She is… she is on a ship on course to Antarctica!"

 _Sorry Judy, sorry Nick, but this monster wants to destroy my face!_

The questions went on and Kitty answered them, trying to answer only the questions without revealing more information then necessary. When she was asked, where Nick was, she answered that he brought the kids to Bunny Burrow. The big bad wolf didn't asked further. Obviously he didn't knew about the whole matter, he just read the questions someone else had given him.

When he was through, he used a cell phone. He reported everything she had said to him to someone on the phone.

"What about my money? 10,000 Zootopia Dollar, deliverable as soon as I give you the answers…"

Someone knocked at the door. Grinning, he marched to the door, unlocked it and opened it just some inches. A big, white arm appeared, holding a blue envelope.

"It has been a pleasure doing business with you guys", he said and clicked the phone off.

He looked at his unused instruments.

"Well, my dear, you did a great job. I have never been less disappointed to not use my little friends here."

He used the biggest knife to cut her loose. Sobbing and choking, Kitty grabbed her clothes, dressed and ran to the door.

"Maybe we see each other again under… more pleasant circumstances! I have your address, Kitty MacMahon!", he yelled after her.

 _Oh my god, he is serious about it! He really thinks he could ask me out or something! How sick must he be?_

As quick as she could she ran home, opened her apartment door, locked it behind her and blocked it with a chair. She ran in the bathroom and vomited in the toilet. On all fours, she crawled in the shower, turned on the water not caring that she was fully clothed. Her jeans were soaked with blood down to her knees. The water was scorching hot and steam filled her tiny bathroom.

Kitty took off her wet clothes. The water that vanished in the drain was red with blood. After ten minutes, her water boiler was empty and the water turned ice cold, but Kitty didn't care. For another fifteen minutes she stood under the ice cold stream until her pain and everything else was numbed, and when she opened her eyes and saw that the bleeding had finally stopped, she turned off the water and walked over to her bed with soaking wet fur. She rolled inside her sheets that got soaked immediately.

With clattering teeth she stayed there, crying, unable to sleep, watching the hands on her clock ticking away minute after minute.

At 4:30 am she got up, walked in the bath like a zombie, rubbed herself dry and dressed. Like in trance she walked to the ZPD. She changed into her uniform and managed to give Clawhauser a smile.

"Mornin' Kitty, starting this early?", he grinned, the package of doughnuts in front of him was still closed but his paws were already fidgeting in the direction, "Early cat gets the mouse?" He lifted his computer mouse and laughed at his own joke.

Working helped. She concentrated on the difficulties of the new shift plan. Every mammal had different rules for shift length, pause time, off days and so on. As long as she was alone, she concentrated fully on the screen in front of her, but when Bogo arrived at 7:30, giving her a surprised "Good morning, MacMahon!", when he saw that she was already sitting at her desk, her mind came back to the occurances of the previous night.

Chief Bogo noticed something was afoot. While working, his eyes wandered to his assistant, noticing some changes in her, being different than the usual vivacious character. And her tail, of course. He sometimes complained about her long tail swishing from left to right all the time like a pendulum, irritating him, but today her tail was flat on the floor. He looked closer. Her eyes were puffy and seemed swollen. She was tense, hadn't merely said a word since he came in. No coffee was prepared. How should he react? He had accepted that he had strong feelings for her, but he was a water buffalo and she was a cat so he had chosen to keep their relationship professional. But maybe…

"MacMahon?", he cleared his throat, "Is… I don't know… is something wrong?"

She looked at him shocked. When he realized that her eyes were filling with tears, he jumped up so quickly that he send a stack of files from his desk to the floor.

"Kitty! What in the…"

The cat burst out in tears and Bogo stood helplessly in front of her. Finally he dared to stretch out his mighty arm and put his hoof on her shoulder. She sobbed hysterically and Bogo tried to make out something of the words she stammered.

"I… I did something terrible… I endangered… I told him… all… and now… Judy and Nick… in danger…"

"What?", asked Bogo confused, "Judy and Nick? Has something happened in Japan?"

Kitty shook her head and tears rained down everywhere, "No, they are… not in Japan… in Antarctica!"

"Antarctica? What the hell are these two doing there?"

"I'm sorry… I had to lie to you… but this should be all secret… the Secret Service has…"

"Kitty, I don't understand a word… what has the Secret Service to do with it? Is Jack Savage behind all this?"

Kitty nodded. Her beautiful face was smeared with snot and tears and Bogo rummaged in his desk to find a box of kleenex.

"There, there… now tell me all, but from the beginning…"

"Okay… yes, I understood… Yes, I have received it all… thanks…"

Viktor Maybach hung up the phone. He pressed both paws in front of his face. After all that years… He jumped from his chair and hopped through his giant office and for a second he really looked like a playful bunny kid. He landed on his desk, pressing a button, "Professor Wilhelm, come into my office, immediately!"

He sat down, relaxed, or at least tried to, while he waited for the professor. Finally, the badger arrived, looking curiously.

"Martin, you won't believe it!", Maybach yelled at him before he even could close the door, "We've found one!"

Wilhelm looked confused, "One what?", he asked.

"An L4, Martin, an L4! We have one on the ship! She will arrive in four days… no, three and a half!"

The professor looked dumbfounded, "But… do you really mean…"

"Martin, for over a decade every scientist in the world laughed behind me back about my theory… but I believed! I couldn't be the only exception on this planet!"

"Sir, I am not sure, what…"

"Since I was a kid, I knew something was different with me… I never felt like a prey… you can't understand that, you are a predator by birth, but I, a meek bunny, was always sure I had the soul of a pred!"

Wilhelm scratched the back of his head, "But, Sir, this theory you had, about the genetic change, you were never able to proof it…"

"Yeah, of course not, because I never had other samples than myself! I isolated the L4 enzyme in the DNA, but no one believed me, all thought I was just lunatic, if I hadn't been rich, they would have put me in an asylum!"

He took a deep breath and hopped around to put an arm around the badger.

"But now, my friend, now we have found another one! And it's a bunny, can you believe it? And female! We've won the jackpot!"

"So, you have analyzed her blood and she…"

Maybach waved off, "Of course not… not yet! But I saw her on video, she's magnificient! She faught a weasel on camera! And, now listen up, that's the best part, she used a fake identity to come on my ship! She is a cop! A cop! A _bunny_ cop! Unbelievable! I saw internet pages, she's not just a bunny cop, she had solved major cases in Zootopia! She was big in the media, how could I have missed it? And now the best: She is married… to a fox! A fox! A pred, no, no, no, not just a pred, to our most lethal enemy from the old times – and she is even raising fox cubs!"

The professor stood still and watched in amazement how his boss and his former friend jumped around him like crazy.

"But Sir, do you really think this qualifies her for being an L4? She might just be a little eccentric or…"

Suddenly, Maybach had jumped to the professor's neck grabbing him by his lab coat.

"Or what… crazy?"

"I didn't want to say…"

"Oh, yes, you want… that what everyone says about me behind my back… eccentric, crazy, completely nuts… that crazy rich bunny wants to be a predator… do you think, I don't know how you and the other scientists talk about me?"

"Viktor, really, now you are going too far! I have never said anything against your theory. It is simply not proven yet. When this bunny really has that enzyme in her chromosomes, then it's a first step!"

Maybach let go of him.

"You are right. I am sorry, old friend. You are right with everything. We test her, then we'll see. I am sure she has the L4 in her. And when that is proven, she's gonna be our first test object for the L4 nanobots!"

Professor Martin Wilhelm inhaled deeply to contradict his boss, but then stopped himself. Instead he said, "Yes, Viktor. We'll see…"


	17. Chapter 17 - To The Rescue

**Chapter 17 – To The Rescue**

Chief Bogo stood at the window of his office and stared out of it. He was trembling with rage. Behind him, poor Kitty sat on a chair, her head down, after she had ended her report of what had happened the previous night.

He turned around, but seeing her so down, tears marking streaks on the fur of her beautiful little face, was too much for him to bear.

"Kitty, I…", he started, but didn't know how to continue.

"Maybe… we should call Doctor Mwabene to check on you…"

"No!", yelled Kitty, who despised the old lioness who took care of the health of police officers. She remembered well how Judy was treated by Dr. Mwabene when she had thought that Judy had been raped.

"Please, chief… do not let that old c… that doctor put her paw on me, please!"

"But what should we do now? Judy and Nick are in danger and… about that wolf… we need to arrest him and…"

Kitty produced a hollow laugh, "And then? They will take him to court, alright, and there I will have to retell the entire story… and he will tell anyone that I went with him on my own accord… everyone knows that cats are horny all the time…"

She started crying again, but this time out of rage.

She stopped, burying her face in her paws.

"I'm sorry, chief… I didn't want to…but the thought alone…"

Bogo sat down behind his desk.

"But we can't just let him go… attacking a police officer… he will have to pay… oh, yeah…"

He pressed a button on the telephone.

"Clawhauser! Is Tony back from his night shift?"

"Yes, chief!", came the cheetah's voice out of the speaker, "He arrived five minutes ago… I think he's still in the locker room. Fangmeyer is with him!"

"Okay, tell him to come into my office… at once! Alone! No, wait… bring Fangmeyer, too!"

"Should I…", started Clawhauser, but Bogo had pressed the red button already.

Officer Jasper Fangmeyer let out a loud yawn. He had just changed into his civil clothing when his present partner, the giant tiger Tony Thiruvanthapurram came out of the shower, his fur steaming, wrapped in a towel.

"Man, I hate these late night shifts!", he said.

Tony grinned, "I thought you wolves are nocturnal!", he replied.

"Yeah, but this doesn't mean…"

The door crashed open and Clawhauser stormed in, "You two! Quick! Into Bogo's office!"

Fangmeyer growled, "Hey, doesn't he know we are off duty now?"

The cheetah shrugged, "As he would say: I know – but I don't care!"

Tony and Jasper knocked at Bogo's door.

"Come!", they heard their boss yell.

With a strange feeling, they entered. Tony had been in here a thousand times, but never in civil clothes.

"Sorry, Chief, we already got changed…", he started.

"I don't give a shit", answered Bogo, "This has nothing to do with duty… it is a personal matter. Sit down, you two, I need to tell you something… Kitty, please, get us some coffee, will you? And take your time."

Tony gulped as he noticed the rage in Bogo's voice. Something was bad… really bad.

Kitty left them alone and came back half an hour later with four mugs of steaming coffee. When she passed Clawhauser's desk he gave her a curious look but did not dare to ask any questions. When she entered the office she was sharing with Bogo, all three mammals inside turned around and looked at her. Bogo's face was indifferent, the face of the giant tiger was full of sad sympathy and Fangmeyer had turned his eyes down and didn't even dare to look at her.

"We will handle this situation ourselves!", said Bogo determined, "I hate to say it, but the law can't help us – and I won't let someone unpunished who laid paws on one of my team. Tony, Jasper", the wolf gulped as this was the first time Chief Bogo had called him by his first name, "I can not order you to help me in this, as this is against our regulations – to be true, it's against our codex. We will all lose our jobs when we get caught…"

The tiger grinned, "Well, then we better help you to not get caught!"

But Bogo was not in the mood for funny remarks, "Seriously, you can just walk out of the office and forget the conversation we just had, no offense."

Tony shrugged and remain seated. Fangmeyer lifted his head. "I can't just forget what I just heard. I had to put up a fight against wolf prejudice my whole lifetime… at school, at the academy… in the movies, the bad guy is always a wolf, isn't he? It's because of guys like that swine that other mammals lift their eyebrows when they see a wolf in a police uniform. Kitty…", for the first time he looked at her, "I can't tell you how sorry…"

But before he could say more, Kitty had marched to him and put her paws on his shoulders, she had to stand on tiptoe to do so.

"Jasper, please, don't do that. This guy was an asshole and, yeah, by mere coincidence he was a wolf, too."

Fangmeyer had to gulp yet again. "Count me in!", he said and Bogo gave him an approving look. Bogo felt a little sting as he had had some reservations against a wolf officer at the beginning. And Fangmeyer was not a model cop like Judy or Nick, he was a clown sometimes and he had stood in that office to get reprimanded once or twice too often. But Bogo also knew that the wolf in front of him had a good heart and was trying his best. And over the past years he had learned that he could rely on Fangmeyer as good as on all of his core team.

Tony cleared his throat, "But what about Nick and Judy? We must warn them!"

"Kitty told me, that their mission is so secret, even the Secret Service does not know about it. Only the director himself is informed. He is also the only one who can establish contact to Agent Savage."

He took out his phone and searched the directory.

"When we promised Mayor Sigurðardóttir to work closer together, we exchanged cell phone numbers. We had…", he listened, "Hm, strange, it seems his cell phone is offline. He told me, he can be reached 24-7 on that one… Kitty, get me his office!"

Kitty sat down at her desk and searched the number in her electronic directory. She pressed a button and Bogo's phone started to ring. He picked up and waited.

"Hello? This is Police Chief Bogo speaking. I need to talk to D, it is very important… what? Okay, but… are you sure? I have tried his private cell phone, but it is off and I… listen, ma'am, I am sorry, but it is a matter of life or death and I really need to… ah… yes… I understand… and you are sure, that there is no way… okay, thank you, ma'am."

He hung up and sat down, his face buried in his giant hooves. The others stared at him but no one dared to say a word, they waited patiently until he looked up.

"We have a problem. D is not in the office and will not pick up his phone. His secretary told me that his wife passed away this night. He will be off duty until further notice."

Fangmeyer sighed, "And what will we do now? All we know is that they are on a ship to Antarctica and we can't reach them via normal means because the entire ship is bugged, true?"

Bogo nodded.

"Well", Tony said, "then we must go there!"

"But even if we take a plane we might not reach them before they arrived there!", Kitty said.

"I don't see another way", Bogo said, "We'll have to try, even if we arrive too late to warn them, but maybe we are able to help them anyway. I won't sit on my fat ass and not try. Kitty, check out how we get there!"

Kitty typed frantically on her PC for fifteen minutes. Then she looked up.

"We can't fly directly to that tourist resort in Antarctica, they only have a private landing strip there. The closest we can get is Fawcett Island. From there we had to charter an aircraft. The quickest connection will depart today at 3.15 pm, to Buenos Aires, there we have only thirty minutes to catch the plane to Ushuaia, from there with a smaller aircraft to Fawcett. But on that last plane they'll take only two B-sized passengers, so we need to book quickly…"

All eyes turned towards Bogo. He sighed. As Tony and him were rather large animals, flying was always a problem. The average planes were made for C-sized animals (like Fangmeyer) and a mixed sized group would always have trouble booking a trip if they liked to travel together.

Bogo sighed again, "Okay, book it!"

Kitty hesitated, "Chief, that's more than 10,000 Z$... and I supposed I can't book it on the office…"

"Hell no!", Bogo said, "They'll flay me to death!"

His private account has not enough money for a trip like that and to get it from his savings account, he needed time…

"Maybe I just book it and say we'll pay when we get the tickets at the airport?", Kitty suggested as Bogo remained silent.

"Yes… yes, do it", Bogo said, "I'll think of something." He checked his watch, "We have some 5 hours to take care of that wolf. Tony, do you still have that blow torch?"

Tony raised his eyebrows. He had mentioned to the Chief over a year ago that he had bought one to make modifications on his motor cycle and was amazed, Bogo still remembered.

"Yes, sure!", he said.

"Okay, we'll get it on our way, we might need it."

Fangmeyer gulped silently as he could imagine what the Chief planned to do. But then he looked at poor Kitty and his rage came back.

"Let's go!", he said determined.

Meanwhile at sea, Nick had gotten up, refreshed after a nap. With his cook uniform and his crew batch he entered the crew area and marched directly to the small office where he had seen the passenger bracelet's coding machine. A different purserette was busy there now. Nick waited out of sight and checked the clock: 11:59. At 12 exactly, the purserette, a young ozelot, walked out of her office and locked the door. Nick smiled. He loved those germans! Exactly at noon all pencils fell down as it was lunch time. The lunch break was thirty minutes, that means the purserette would enter her office exactly at 12:29:30 to restart working at half past twelve exactly.

The lock at the door was no problem for Nick. The computer was password protected, but Nick searched the drawers and found a list with passwords all crossed through except the last one. He smiled, typed it in and the screen turned white. He played around a while until he understood the menu structure. He found his fake name in the crew list and saw that he had been scheduled to work in kitchen 6, his first shift would start in two hours. He hissed. He did not intend to work in the kitchen. It took him twelve valuable minutes to remove him out of the schedule and replace him with other cooks as an empty space would be suspicious. Finally he created a new identity in the passenger list, a first class passenger named Klaus Becker, fox, single, cabin C122. This cabin was already occupied, but Nick did not intend to set foot in it, so no one would notice. As you could not remove your bracelet without destroying it, he produced three bracelets of his new first class identity and also three of his present third class. He closed the program, activated the password protected screen saver and opened the door at 12:28 – and looked directly in the shocked face of the ozelot purserette.

Before she could say anything, Nick said, "Oh, there you are! Never mind, I just needed to use your phone. Aren't you supposed to lock your door?"

Her eyes got wide, "I… I am sure, I had…"

"Well, obviously not. But don't worry, because of that kiss I won't tell anyone!", Nick smirked.

"Kiss? What kiss?", she asked confused.

"This one!" Nick quickly licked the tip of her nose, than marched away quickly.

He heard her gasp when he turned around the next corner, then she yelled, "Du… du verdammter Fuchs!"

Nick needed no translator to know that this was not an invitation for dinner. He stormed away, the bracelets safe in his pocket.

The ozelot stomped her feet, wiped her nose and slammed the door shut behind her. As soon as she was sure she was alone, her angry face turned into a smile.

Ryan Coleheart jr., who loves to call himself 'The Big Bad Wolf', stepped out of the warehouse door into the bright sunlight and quickly put his shades on. After his very lucrative innuendo with that extraordinarily cute cat he had spent the entire rest of the night including half of the morning hours in that illegal club playing poker. The 10,000 bucks had bought him a place on the big shot's table. He was quite good at poker thanks to some tricks he had learned over the years, but tonight the goddess of good fortune had been on his side and even though he had played a hundred percent fair and square he now had more than 60,000 Z$ in that envelope in his breast pocket instead of the 10 grand he started with.

He was in an extraordinary mood. He thought of that sexy bitch, Kitty was her name and what a kitty she was! He was completely sure that she had enjoyed the night with him. Well, he had her address, he might visit her in some days, maybe she would be delighted to see him again… and who knows? Maybe he could have more fun with her. The thought alone made his steps faster. He headed home to take a good nap. The 60,000 bucks would mean some extra pleasures and some weeks of lazy time.

When he was just steps away from the door to his hideout, he saw another wolf coming in his direction. When they were about to pass, his excited mood made him grin and say, "Morning, brother!"

The other wolf grabbed him by the shoulders and smashed him against the dirty wall.

"Hey, what the fuck…", Ryan yelled.

"Listen, you scumbag", answered Fangmeyer, "to make one thing clear: I am not your brother, not your pal, not your mate and absolutely not your friend, okay? In this very second I am ashamed that we even are the same species, you son of a…"

Ryan kicked him back, freeing from his opponent's firm grip.

"What's wrong with you? I just wanted to be friendly! Come here, bastard, I will teach you some manners, I will…"

He stopped when suddenly he stood in the darkness. A giant shadow was all over him. He turned quickly around to saw the biggest tiger he had ever seen in his life. Even though the tiger was grinning, Ryan knew immediately that he was in trouble.

"No, I think it is us who will teach some manners to you!", the tiger said with a deep bariton voice that rang like a church bell through the narrow alley. The last thing Ryan saw was a tiger's paw the size of a frying pan, then darkness.


	18. Chapter 18 - Female Attraction

**Chapter 18 – Female Attraction**

After his successful trip to get new bracelets, Nick decided to spent the afternoon at the first class pool. He dressed in a flashy, new-money style. He had bought a pair of sweat bands as mammals had had them in the eighties while they played tennis. He used them to conceal his third class bracelet. He could as well have cut it off and later used one of the bracelets he had stolen from the purserette's office, but as he had only three of them, he decided to safe them for later.

He entered the first class pool area on deck C. It had got colder with every day, therefore it was no problem to get a deck chair directly at the pool. Only very few passengers still took a sun bath, most had wrapped themselves in the fluffy towels the stewards had laid out on every chair. Nick wore dark sunglasses, enabling him to scan the passengers secretly. Half of him had hoped to see Judy down here, even though he should avoid any contact.

Suddenly, he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye – a flash of bright red. There, in the far corner of the pool area, alone on a deck chair, sat a beautiful young vixen. She had short fur, a bit lighter than his own, her tail smaller and not so bushy. Despite the chilling wind, she wore a very tiny bikini, emphasizing her slender long legs. She had a slim figure with medium-sized breasts, but Nick could not see her face as she was reading a magazine.

Nick had not turned his head towards her. Instead, he chose a chair at the pool opposite of her, laid down, then took out his book and pretended to read, while he kept his eyes on her.

Finally, she put down her magazine. Nick estimated her to be nineteen, maximum. She had a rather short snout, her eyes were large and almond shaped, from the distance Nick could not see the color, but they were dark. She looked around with a bored expression until she saw him. Her eyes fixed him and Nick made sure not to move. Due to his sunglasses she couldn't know he was watching her. When she still stared at him after another minute, Nick put his book down and turned his head away. Immediately she ripped up her magazine. Nick smirked.

For a while, the game went on, as soon as she thought he was not watching she looked in his direction. Then, after half an hour or so, she got up. She walked slowly to the pool, her hips swaying, her tail waving from left to right and back. When she reached the rim of the pool, she put her arms in the air and without any hesitation made a perfect jump headfirst in the pool.

She dived through half the length of the pool, and Nick could hear her "Uh!", when she surfaced. Obviously, the water was colder than she had expected. She swam four full lanes. When she passed him, Nick concentrated on his book, totally ignoring her, when someone cleared his throat next to him.

Nick looked up. A German Shepherd stood in front of him, wearing a waiter's uniform.

"Good afternoon, Sir", he said, "Can I bring you something?"

The waiter looked friendly but concentrated and focused his eyes on Nick's white bracelet. Nick was sure, he had asked him only because he was a fox and foxes usually don't hang around in the first class areas.

"No, thank you!", Nick said.

The Shepherd cleared his throat again, "May I scan your bracelet, Sir? We are currently doing a survey to find out how many mammals are using the pool area…"

Nick could have pointed out that he could count him without scanning his bracelet and that he had not scanned the bracelet of any other passenger around, but Nick wanted to play the peaceful, rich passenger. He stretched out his right arm. The waiter scanned his bracelet with a small device the size of a cell phone and checked the screen.

"Danke, Herr Becker!", he said.

Nick heard the vixen splash in the water right in front of him and was sure she had heard his name.

"My name is Felix, and you can find me at the pool bar, I will be happy to provide you with drinks or snacks!", the dog continued.

"That's good to know!", Nick said, "It's my first day at the pool, I boarded at Ushuaia and my first day on board was not so nice… got a little sea sick, you know…"

The face of the dog relaxed. The suspicious fox that had entered his area turned out to be a harmless bloke. He nodded and wished Nick a nice day before he marched back to his pool bar.

The girl in the pool pushed herself out in a gush of water just ten feet away from Nick's chair. She took a towel from a nearby chair and started to dry herself, when she dropped the towel in the pool.

Nick was sure she did that on purpose despite her loud "Oh, crap!", but decided to play along. He jumped off his chair and reached her his own towel. The chivalry was absolutely unnecessary as there were some ten towels lying around on unused deck chairs, but she gave him a wide smile and whispered, "Thank you! How very nice of you!"

Her English had the typical european accent and her voice was like sweet music. Her eyes were dark brown and with wet fur her figure was even more amazing.

"Do you speak English?", she asked him. She had overheard him talking German with the waiter.

"As a matter of fact, I do!", Nick smirked. He was about a head taller than her.

"Are you cold? Do you want a hot drink?"

"Ohhh, that would be splendid!", she said, beaming at him as if he just had offered her the crown jewels.

"We could walk to the pool bar…", Nick started.

"Oh, would you mind getting the drinks? I would like to sit here in the sun…"

"Sure!"

Nick got up and walked to the pool bar. When he got back with the drinks he noticed that his bag stood a little different than before, and he was sure that vixen had looked inside. Well, if she had, she had found nothing as there was only another towel and a bottle of water in it.

"Look at me, buying you a drink without having introduced myself properly…", Nick said, "I am Klaus Becker…"

When she took the drink from him, she touched his paw with hers briefly, "I am Tracy. Tracy Whitney", she smiled.

For a while they just sat and drank. Then, she turned her head towards him and asked, "Well, how does a fox like you can afford a journey like this?"

Nick's former life as a con artist had been full of carefully made plans, but also of quick decisions about changing them. The question would have been offensive if it had come from any other mammal than another fox. The way she emphasized the words, the look in her eyes, the bitter undertone in her kind voice, made Nick revoke all the plans he had about the ongoing of this conversation. He bent forward until his snout was next to her ear.

"My real name is Nick Wilde", he said, "I'm travelling third class. The bracelet is false. I am on this ship to steal money from the rich bastards!"

He laid back and hold his breath. He had no idea if his instinct was right about this girl, she might as well jump up and call for security. She hadn't moved an inch after his confession and stared out on the smooth surface of the water in the pool, so he couldn't see her face.

When she finally turned around, her eyes were sparkling and for the first time Nick saw her _real_ smile.

"I knew it!", she whispered, "I had hoped so much that you were not one of these rich arrogant bastards, but a real fox! A dirty, stealing liar, like all of us!"

Being praised and insulted at the same time, Nick was unsure how to answer, so he just smiled.

During the next hours, he learned a lot about Tracy. She was from Bristol in the U.A.K., her family had been very poor, she had five elder brothers, her mother was a prostitute, her father a thief and burglar. She told Nick all that as if that was the most normal thing in the world.

She started stealing and shoplifting at the age of six. When she turned nine, one of her brothers taught her to drive and two years later she had stolen over sixty cars.

"I need twelve seconds to disable the locks and the alarm in a BMW!", she said proudly.

On her twelfth birthday, her father had asked her if she wanted to become a professional thief or a prostitute – she decided on being a thief.

"Sometimes, I made 35,000 Pounds a month – more than 30,000 Euro!", she told him.

"And you've never been in prison?", Nick asked.

"Never!", she said proudly, "One or the other brother of mine was always in, but they never caught me – even though I had some close calls. I was 14 when my dad got arrested, I left home and lived on the streets, using my dad's connections to sell my booty."

Nick nodded, lost in thoughts. Her life had been quite similar to his own, but her family had accepted that being a fox meant being a criminal and were proud about it. His own dad, on the other hand, had always tried to be an honest business man but did never overcome the prejudices against his kind.

Nick told her the story of his own life, mainly the truth, he just made himself five years younger (she was nineteen!) and so simply cropped his life with Judy. Tracy laughed when he told her about his pawpsicle business with Finnick.

"I would like to meet Finnick, I bet he is totally cool!", she grinned, "How come you left him and work on a ship instead?"

"I had to leave town. The crime boss I was working for, Mr. Big, he suddenly decided to quit business and so I lost my protection. Zootopia became more violent, so I decided to leave. Cruise ships are like big cities – but without police. So I thought, Nicky, why don't you try your luck at sea?"

"You are really clever!", she said and her paw glid in his. Paw in paw they walked through the ship's mall.

"You had the same idea, hadn't you? I mean, working on a ship…", said Nick.

Tracy hit her forehead with her paw, laughing, "Oh dear, I'm talking and talking, but forgot to tell you what I am doing here! Believe it or not, I am a real, honest first class passenger, ticket and all! I won a model contest and Viktor Maybach, the owner of this ship personally invited me to Antarctica – and he even promised to offer me a job!"

When Ryan, the big bad wolf, woke up he immediately know he was in big trouble now. When he opened his eyes he noticed that he was in his own room, attached to his own chair with his own duct tape. The other wolf was nowhere to be seen, but the huge tiger stood to his right. Humming, he had opened Ryan's bag and was now busy spreading the torture tools on the small table. These guys obviously knew what he was doing in here.

Even though it had been the tiger that had hit him unconscious, the big guy had a nice face and looked down on him with a little sympathy.

"Hey, man, listen", started Ryan, "I have no idea who sent you and what you guys want from me, but I have money and…"

"Shhhhh!", made the tiger, smiling over his big face.

A different hissing noise came from the other side of the room. Ryan tried to turn around as far as possible and saw another big figure with huge horns turning a valve on a gas bottle. The hissing stopped. Panic started to rise in Ryan when he recognized the apparatus as a blow torch.

The horned guy turned around and Ryan saw he was a water buffalo.

"Okay", the buffalo said with a voice so low it made Ryan's stomach cramp, "We have wasted enough time waiting for this clown, so let's get over with it quickly!"

From the other side, the wolf appeared and looked at Ryan with a face full of hate.

"Hey, Tony", the wolf said, "Do you know how many facial muscles a wolf has?"

Ryan broke out in cold sweat.

The tiger shrugged, "No idea. You can google it."

"Naaah, you never know who wrote that shit in the net…", the wolf answered and took one of the razor sharp knives from the table in front of him, "We better count ourselves… I always liked lab work at school…"

Ryan wanted to negotiate for his life, but when the hissing sound came again, followed by a klick of a zippo and the whooshing sound of a large flame, his vocal cords suddenly got paralyzed. The giant tiger prank approaching his face would unfortunately not knock him unconscious this time, but hold his head like a clamp. The last word he heard before his ear drums were busy registrating his own screams was from the other wolf.

"One!"

Kitty sat in her office, from time to time she had to take a call for the Chief and answer questions. She did not work much, but thought about a variety of things.

Before she entered police service, she never knew was the word family truly meant. Being raised without a father by a mother projecting her failed model career on her daughter, running away to Police Academy with literally only the clothes she wore. But police turned out to be more than a job. All the other mammals she met here, Judy, Nick, Tony, even Jasper and so may others… and, of course, Bogo… they had all accepted her as she was, even if that had not always been easy, she still broke out in sweat each time she thought about that horrid scene in the hospital when she had threwn her badge in Bogo's face, ready to quit.

But the cops of the first precinct of Zootopia had become much more than colleagues or simple friends… they had become her family. Three of them were now out, risking their careers and even their lifes for her and soon they would board a plane to do the very same for Judy and Nick who are in great peril. Wasn't that was family was all about? Taking care of each other, looking after each other?

Kitty closed her eyes. A strong wave of attraction for all her friends helped her to suppress the memories of the bad events of last night.

The door smashed open and Bogo, Tony and Jasper marched in, accompanied by a strong smell of kerosene.

Kitty gasped, "Oh my god, Tony, your leg! You're injured…"

Tony looked down at his blood stained pants.

"Shit, I should have changed into an old pair of jeans… don't worry, Kitty, that's not my blood…"

"Hey, Kitty!", yelled Jasper, "Do you know how many facial muscles a wolf has? We counted 64, didn't we, Tony? That's 65, if you count the tongue…"

"You shouldn't!", said Tony while he rubbed his stained pants with a wet cloth, "it's too messy!"

For a second, Kitty's eyes went wide in shock as she grasped the meaning of the conversation. She jumped off her chair, but that caused her pain between the legs and that brought back the memories of what had happened last night… and suddenly, her eyes became two slits and with a voice hard as steel, so hard, even Bogo looked up in surprise, she said, "Good to know…"

Bogo cleared his throat, "Enough! We need to hurry, our flight to Buenos Aires departs in two and a half hours and we still need to pack…", he scratched his mighty forehead, "erm, does someone has some money lying around? I have only about two thousand bucks…"

Jasper grinned, "Hey, Chief, no problem, I'll treat us all!"

"You, Fangmeyer?"

"Yeah, sure!", he pulled out a blood stained envelope, "I received a donation for our trip about an hour ago… I haven't counted, but I'm sure that's more than 50 grand in here!"

"Fangmeyer", growled Bogo in a deep voice and the wolf suddenly became an inch smaller, "don't tell me, you've taken this from…"

Kitty walked between Bogo and Fangmeyer, "Stop it, Magnus!"

For the first time she had called him by his first name. Bogo looked in her eyes, these beautiful eyes that used to shine with so much joy and liveliness, but now were hard, like the eyes of a goddess of revenge.

"That prick got the money for torturing me, okay?", she said quietly.

Jasper nodded, "Yeah, and he has no use for it anymore – he certainly won't need money where he is now…"

Bogo sighed and nodded, "Okay, okay, for once, I approve it. Well done, Fangmeyer."

"Good!", said Kitty and snatched the envelope out of Fangmeyer's hands. She took a package of bills out and gave it back. Fangmeyer stared open mouthed.

"What…", asked Bogo.

"Shopping!", Kitty said, as if that was the most natural thing in the world. "I don't know about you guys, but I have no clothes suitable for Antarctica. I bet it's rather cold, even in summer."

Jasper grinned, "I'm a wolf, the cold does not bother me!"

Tony shrugged, "I have a snow suit, I bought it for skiing!"

Bogo sighed. As a water buffalo he hated the cold, so he had to admit that he had no suitable clothes.

"Well, that's settled, then", Kitty smiled, "You guys pack, I shop and we'll meet at the airport, gate A113 in 90 minutes."

When no one reacted, she added, "Dismissed!"

The three cops hurried out and Kitty sighed. She had ninety minutes to arrange everything…

Nick walked restlessly up and down in his tiny third class cabin. He would meet Tracy for dinner at 9 pm. What she had told him was important. She was one of the girls Viktor Maybach had invited to visit him! He had even already promised her a job at his facility. So she would go directly in Viktor's private estate… an opportunity better than anything they could plan. But he must talk to Jack Savage.

Jack had advised him to avoid any contact, but under the given circumstances… Nick shook his head. No, he could not decide this by himself, he was no secret agent. He needed to talk to Jack, as soon as possible. But how could he meet him, tell him what he learned without any of the watchdogs on this cursed ship finding out about it?

For a while he concentrated. Then a plan started to grow in his head…

Meanwhile, not very far away from Nick's cabin, another plan was forged. Xavier was reading the mail from Viktor Maybach that Xenia had given him.

"His orders regarding her are clear…", he said thoughtfully, "and her so-called husband?"

Xenia nodded, "We know for certain that she is married to a fox. That means, this black bunny posing as her husband is also fake. I don't know who he is, maybe a cop, maybe not, who cares."

She pointed at the email.

"You see what Viktor has planned for them…"

"And when? And, most important, how should we achieve that? They should not know that we know their dirty little secret…"

Xenia took the paper out of his hand and sat down on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I received another mail…", she purred in his ear, "about you. You will become an officer, starting next month!"

"Really?!", he yelled excitedly, "What…", but before he could continue, Xenia closed his mouth with a long kiss.

"Officers have a high responsibility", she said, "You have to find out how we handle the Kreuzbergs…"

Xavier shrugged, "Isn't the Captain's Dinner tomorrow evening? And don't the passengers of the Honeymoon Suite sit at the Captain's table by default? Well, than…"

He whispered in Xenia's ear and she giggled.

"What a great idea…", she said, kissing him on the nose, "I knew from the start that you were the right one for this job!"

During dinner, everybody was abuzz about the Captain's Dinner next day, but Jack did not listen to the chatter most of the time. He was worried. Only three more days on sea, then they would arrive at Inle's Burrow, as Maybach called his hideout. And he still has no plan, no idea how to get inside and more and more he feared this mission might end in a fiasco. Judy was tense, too. Most conversations they had were only staged for the mammals that were eavesdropping them day and night. Jack sighed. He had been a fool taking her on this journey, it had brought nothing except endangering her life. At least they had come further than any other agent team so far, so it looked like their secret was still safe, but he wasn't even sure about that.

"Is it true that you two will sit at the Captain's table tomorrow?", Patrizia asked Judy with a large quantum of envy in her voice.

"Yes, it's part of travelling in the honeymoon suite", Judy answered without a lot of enthusiasm.

"Excuse me", Jack said and got up.

When he was gone, Stefan asked, "What's wrong with him? He looked like he's carrying all the sorrow in the world – don't tell me, you've had your first fight?"

Judy laughed, "No, really! He hadn't slept well the last nights, maybe he is a just a little tired…"

That was not even a lie, as Judy has heard him moan in his sleep and turning around a lot.

The restrooms near the dining saloon were not only separated in "Males" and "Females" but also in "Preds" and "Prey". Jack hated this. He had always hated it when someone called him "prey". He didn't feel like prey. Together with his rebellious mind, this had lead to the habit of using the Pred bathroom.

Without any hesitation, he marched in the pred's room. When a hyena, who was busy washing his paws gave him a curious look, Jack stared back at him until the hyena shrugged and turned away.

As this ship was filled with mostly prey animals, the pred's bathroom was rather small – only two cabins were here, one of them occupied. For a short moment, Jack considered going to the prey bathroom as there was an awful stench in here. But then he locked himself in the other cabin and sat down.

Usually, bunnies finish their business rather fast, but Jack checked his phone even though he already knew that D had not sent any messages. There was a tiny hope in him, that D cancelled the mission, that would have solved all of Jack's problems, but of course, the director of the Secret Service did not.

The guy in the cabin next to him was moaning and making a lot of other nasty, indescribable noises while emptying his bowels. A new wave of stench reached Jack's twitching nose. Fuck, what did these pred jerks eat? Suddenly, something was touching his foot.

Shocked, Jack looked down and saw a roll of toilet paper that had rolled under the separating wall between the cabins right over his right foot, leaving a lane of white paper behind.

"He, Kumpel, schieb' das Ding wieder rüber, okay?", said a hoarse voice to him.

That voice… for a second, Jack was sure that he heard Nick's voice. It was a bit deeper, as if the fox had tried to mask his voice… could it be? Nick was travelling third class, he had no business being in here, in the restroom next to the first class dining saloon. And was his German that good? There had been no trace of accent in the request to kick the roll back…

Just when Jack was sure he was imagining things and bowed down to reach for the roll of toilet paper, he noticed a tiny piece of tissue folded inside the roll. His heart missed a beat when he saw something was written on it. He grabbed the tiny piece with two fingers and let it vanish in his sleeve, while he pushed the roll back.

"Danke!", came from the other side, and now Jack was sure that it was Nick. He waited until he heard the flushing, then the door opened and footsteps were audible. Jack bent down again and looked under the door, but he couldn't see anything. He quickly get up and stormed outside, but even if he reached the door just second after the mysterious flatulist, he couldn't see anyone in the corridor.

"Fuck", he said and walked back to their table.

He had to wait until Judy had finished her dessert, then he could finally persuade her to leave with him for a walk to the ship's stern, where he could tell her what happened while the water noise masked their conversation.

With his back to the cameras, Jack unfolded the message for the first time. The writing was minuscule and Jack couldn't read a word. He handed it over to Judy and she looked at it and whispered, "From Nick – written in Vulpine".

Without another word, she started to walk back. They entered the mall that was still quite busy and Judy vanished in a shop's restroom after she had looked at some clothes. When she came back, she just said, "I'm tired. Let's go to bed early, okay?"

Thirty minutes later, they were in bed, hugging each other, whispering in each other's ears.

"The message had only one single word", started Judy.

"What? It was so long…"

"Yes, but the rest were just description of when to meet Nick and how to get there without being seen by any camera!"

"Is he crazy? That's an enormous risk – if we get caught…"

Judy pinched him in the chest so hard, Jack hissed.

"Nick will have a reason to do so. The first word is a Vulpine word that can not be translated easily. It described a rare opportunity during a hunt. It is also used to describe a situation where you have success due to extreme lucky circumstances", she explained.

"Hmph", made Jack, "Let's hope it's worth it. Where is the note now?"

"I've shredded it to pieces and flushed it down. I've memorized all of it."

The directions Nick had given were complicated and Judy needed more than ninety minutes to teach Jack every detail until he had memorized it perfectly. The plan would start at 11:30 am tomorrow.

Fangmeyer, Bogo and Tony stood at the terminal of Zootopia International Airport close to their gate, waiting for the fourth member of their rescue gang. Bogo and Fangmeyer had a small bag each, Tony carried a backpack, wearing his snow suit to save luggage space, even though he felt rather hot. Again and again, Bogo checked his watch. Kitty was already a bit more than just late.

"Attention please!", called the female voice from the speakers above them, "Passengers Bogo, MacMahon, Fangmeyer and Thi… Thiruv… runvan… tann… Mr. Tony, booked on Animalia Air flight 1733 to Buenos Aires, please proceed to gate C46 immediately, I repeat…"

"She's coming! Don't worry!", said the tiger with the difficult last name.

"There!", yelled Fangmeyer, "There she is!"

Indeed, the small, slender figure of the elegant cat approached, nearly invisible behind the luggage cart she was pushing.

"What the…", started Bogo staring at the four suitcases and a giant plastic bag on Kitty's cart.

"Sorry, guys!", Kitty smiled, "It took me a while, but I got everything. Quite hard to get a cab in Tundratown!"

"Tundratown?", asked Fangmeyer.

Kitty nodded, "Best place to buy snow suits!"

Bogo grunted, "Let's get to the gate, quick, before they close!"

He had wanted to travel with cabin luggage only, but with Kitty's stuff, this was out of question.

"Oh, you guys are only having bags?", asked Kitty, "Great, could each of you check one of my suitcases in, please?"

"Kitty, what the heck do you have in there?", inquired Bogo.

Kitty pressed her paws in her hips. She wore an elegant travel costume in red and white – and boots. "Listen, Chief, a lady needs a bit more stuff and then it's cold down there. To save a fifth suitcase, I am wearing my snow boots on the flight, see? Aren't they cute? Just 189 dollars, a real bargain. And I found an amazing snowsuit, that…"

"Kitty!", said Bogo a bit louder, while Tony handed their four passports to the lynx behind the counter, "We wanted to travel light! And what is in that giant bag?"

Kitty pouted, "That is YOUR snowsuit, Mr. Travel Light, it weighs more than my beauty case!"

Bogo looked shocked, "I could never squeeze that thing in my bag!"

Tony shrugged, "You should wear it, then, like I do!"

When Bogo pulled out the snow suit and unfolded it, Kitty looked to the side. Jasper started to giggle, Tony grinned, while Bogo stared.

"You can't be serious!", the Chief of the ZPD stared at Kitty.

The snowsuit had a color that could euphemistically be called 'lilac'. But the worst part was, that the torso had a picture of dancing pink elephants in tutus sewed on it. In addition, on the hood were two giant bags attached.

"I am sorry…", Kitty said, "but it was impossible to get something in a water buffalo size. This toddler elephant size was the only thing that came close… and I thought, the ear warmers", she pointed at the two large protrusions on the hood, "would fit quite well over your horns!"

Tony stared on the ground, trying not to burst out laughing. Fangmeyer had both paws in fromt of his snout, coughing. To Tony's utter surprise, Bogo stepped in the overall, then pulled it over his massive chest and closed the zipper. The size did fit perfectly, to be honest.

Thirty seconds ago, Tony would have bet his last dime that Bogo would yell at Kitty and never even thought about wearing this monstrosity, but, well, obviously he would have lost that bet. There were quite a lot of rumors in ZPD about the strange relationship between the mighty water buffalo and the delicate little cat and when anyone needed proof about the fact that there was something going on between them, that's it.

"Thanks", Bogo said nearly inaudible.

Then he walked without any other word to the gate. After a second, the others followed suit.


	19. Chapter 19 - Captain's Dinner

**Chapter 19 – Captain's Dinner**

Jack felt a bit suspicious as he walked through the ship's corridors. As Nick had instructed, he was wearing white clothes. It was 11:29. According to Nick's instructions, he had to pass a certain point in the corridor at exactly 11:30 am. He walked faster. 56, 57, 58, 59… nothing happened. Jack slowed down a bit, but exactly at that moment, the elevator chimed and the door opened. Four crew members left the cabin, quick and effective, pulling four large carts with steaming pots full of food. The last one pulled the key from the crew elevator without even looking back.

Jack slipped quickly in the cabin before the door could close. Without him pushing any button, the elevator started moving down. When the door opened, Jack pressed himself against the wall, peeking out carefully, but the dark utility corridor was completely empty.

Meticulously, Jack followed the complicated instructions of Nick that lead him through the maze of corridors deeper and deeper down into the bowels of the giant ship. Finally, he walked on a small gangway directly above the loud engines. He reached a door. Behind it was a white small room with another door opposite of the first one. Just when Jack closed his door, the other one opened.

Jack froze. A crew member entered from what looked like a giant kitchen. Steam was billowing out. The mammal closed the door and after the steam had vanished, Jack reckognized Nick. He was wearing a cook outfit, hat and all.

"Exactly on time, I am impressed!", grinned the fox.

"Thanks to your precise instructions!", Jack answered. He looked at Nick's identity card.

"Wow, your card looks genuine. You forged it yourself?", Jack asked.

"Naaah", Nick answered, "I tricked it out of the purser's office. The best friend of a con artist is massive bureaucracy. Hope you and Judy have a nice time?"

"Well…", Jack cleared his throat, feeling insecure as Nick was obviously knowing about him and Judy… well, building up experiences, "yes, thanks. But let's not waste time. Your message said something about an opportunity…"

Nick told Jack in quick words all he knew about Tracy Whitney. The bunny was impressed.

"So, the story about young female mammals being recruited for some reasons and lured to Antarctica is proven valid, that's for sure." He walked up and down the small room, lost in thoughts.

"She will have access to Maybach's private rooms… that would be a great opportunity to get close to him. Can your trust her?"

"No. She's a little street rat, make no mistake about that. She's a criminal, a trickster, a thief – and proud of it."

Jack wanted to say 'Just like you', but he swallowed the comment as he knew Nick would be offended by it. And, to be honest, it was not true – at least not anymore, as it seems. Jack still did not know if he could really trust Nick a hundred percent, but he had chosen to bring him on this trip, so he better did.

"You need to stay in contact with her as soon as we reach the resort", he said.

"That will be difficult. She will go directly into Maybach's lair, I'll have to go in my third class room in the tourist resort. It would be better…", he stopped in mid sentence.

"What?"

"I must accompany her – I need to go with her."

Jack snorted, "And how do you plan to perform that, Mr. Con Artist?"

"I have to get close to her – very close!"

"Judy will not like that", Jack mentioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. But do you know a better way?"

"Me? No. Maybe if you tell her everything we know about the other girls… we might turn her around and let her work for our side…"

Nick shook his head, "Forget it. She will rather be even more eager to join that gang. If I tell her that Maybach is planning some criminal schemes, she will be even more impressed."

"Okay, I'll have to leave the treatment of the girl to you. Do whatever you deem necessary. Judy and I will move into the tourist resort, our room number is 671. Maybe you find a way of contacting us or even to sneak us in Maybach's private palace down there."

Nick nodded, "You'll have to go now, I have to go back to work. Take good care of Judy, okay?"

"Promised", replied Jack, "Be careful, yourself, Nick. And by the way – good work."

Nick said nothing but gave him the iconic smirk, before the fox vanished back in the kitchen.

Jack caught himself smiling, when he started his long way back. He still was not sure if he liked that sneaky fox or not, but he had to admit that he would be a great secret agent.

Far away, above the clouds, the huge airliner made it's way to Buenos Aires. Bogo and Tony sat in the lower cabin, reserved for the so-called B-class animals, as they both belonged in that class. The seats were quite spacey, even for big guys like the two cops. The middle deck was for the C, D and E-class, everything between bunny and wolf. In the upper section was another tiny deck for the F-class, seating gerbils, mice, etc.

Fangmeyer and Kitty sat together, the wolf fit perfectly in the seat while Kitty needed a seat adapter as she was much smaller.

Even though the air condition was working fine, Jasper Fangmeyer was sitting stiff as a board, his mouth half open, and his tongue lolling out as wolves could not sweat. The reason was the small feline next to him. Kitty was fast asleep, her slender body pressed against Fangmeyer's. Every time she moved, her cheek rubbed against the thick fur of his arm.

She was a feline, but, man, she was so cute and even Fangmeyer had to admit that she was really sexy. He still got enraged when he thought about what that other wolf had done to her. Well, he got what he deserved, and Fangmeyer warned himself not to get any ideas about her… he remembered well Bogo's face when he started working on that wolf with the blow torch.

Judy sat in silence when she heard Jack Savage tell about his trip to the kitchen. They were at their usual secret place at the stern of the ship.

"So," she said, "how does he plan to get in Maybach's private castle with the girl?"

Jack had feared she would ask this.

"Well… I have given him free paws regarding that… but as we have only a little time left before we arrive and assuming Nick is right about her being rather bad…"

"When Nick said that, it's true!", she said determined, "You can always rely on his judgment!"

"I haven't said differently, Judy!", Jack sighed.

"He will seduce her… or rather, let her seduce him… I can not say that I like this plan, but love is love and job is job… he will do what's best for the mission. And who am I to tell him off…"

"Judy, please, don't start this again. If you are sorry about what happened…"

"Sorry?", she yelled, "Oh, no, I am not sorry. I am glad I made that experience. Now I love Nick even more!"

"So, was I that bad?", Jack grinned at her.

Judy laid her arm around him and kissed him on the cheek.

"No, dummy, of course not. There is nothing wrong with you… or maybe there is the same thing wrong with you than with me. We both have lost our hearts to a fox, haven't we?"

A shadow ran across Jack's face as memories of Skye haunted him.

"I don't think she wanted you to mourn her the rest of her life…", Judy said carefully.

Jack sighed, "No, maybe not. But I can't just replace her with some other vixen… or any other female. Not even you, even though I really do love you. There's something… feral about you, as I have no better word. But I have accepted that you and me are not made for each other. Nick is perfect for you. I was wrong from the very start. He is a great guy."

Judy smiled, "Looks like someone needs to revoke his prejudices against foxes!"

"Yeah", Jack said toneless, "But let's dress up, the Captain's Dinner starts in half an hour, and as we sit at the Captain's table it would look stupid if we appear late."

Nick had left the kitchen and sneaked out of the crew section. No one had noticed that he stood not on the duty roster, the kitchen was too big to notice one pair of paws more or less. He changed into an elegant jacket, hid the crew ID card under the mattrass. He hid his third class bracelet under the cuffs of his shirt and wore his first class bracelet open on his arm. He sneaked into the first class section to pick Tracy up at her cabin.

He sighed. His mind raced back and forth, but the easiest way to smuggle himself inside Maybach's lair was to start a love affair with the vixen. She had good looks, sure, but Nick doubted he would have dated her even in his pre-Judy period. He had never liked foxes who were proud of being criminals. More than once, he got sneers from foxes that he arrested as a cop, they said things like, "How can you arrest me, you are one of us!"

Never in his life, not even during his time as a con artist, Nick had associated 'being a fox' with 'being a criminal'. He always had kept the damage to his victims to a minimum. Tracy, on the other hand, was cold as a fish when it came to her victims. She stole what she could carry, no matter what. She openly admitted that she even was stealing from other poor mammals. And she was proud of it. She thought stealing was natural for a fox. That's why Nick would have never dated her under normal circumstances. Maybe he had met too many characters like her in his former life.

Nick knocked at her first class single room. When she opened, Nick whistled at her. She wore a thin white dress, accentuating her model figure. Her eyes glowed at him happily. She had been careful with the make-up. Nick never liked it when girls put on too much of this stuff, a lesson, Judy had learned the hard way when Nick once had refused to go out with her because of too heavy make-up.

But Tracy had done everything right, so they walked to the dining saloon.

Suddenly, Tracy stopped.

"What's wrong?", Nick asked.

"You know…", she said hesitating, "To be honest, I'm not in the mood for this Captain's Dinner shit. I don't want to sit between all the rich pricks, pretending to be one of them!"

Nick swallowed his anger. He had been looking forward to this dinner as he knew Judy would be sitting at the Captain's table and he could have looked at her once in a while. But he controlled himself and smiled at the vixen.

"Well… then… why don't we go to that small italian restaurant in the mall?"

Her eyes sparkled, "Ohhhh, yes! Forget about that fancy food, I wanna stuff myself with a good, decent pizza!"

The restaurant was very popular, but today it was nearly empty as everyone was at the Captain's Dinner.

Nick had some trouble starting a conversation and was glad the pizza arrived quickly, so they could eat. Tracy had left school at age eleven, as she considered it a 'waste of time' and Nick found her being so uneducated quite annoying. Nick also had left school early, but he had tried to achieve as much knowledge as possible. He had read a lot and spent quite some time in the public library. Judy had been fascinated when she learned that Nick had achieved a high result in the educational test on police academy, even though he had no school degree whatsoever.

While eating, he noticed that Tracy was staring at him.

"I have never met a fox like you", she said when he looked at her, "Most male foxes are either idiots or pretenders. They think that society will accept them when they behave like other mammals, you know. Talking the same way, dressing the same way… pathetic. Others, like my brothers, have accepted what being a fox means, but they risk too much and land themselves in prison. But you a different… you are so clever and so experienced."

While she talked, she looked down, playing with her glass. Her face was sad and all of a sudden she said, "I'm still a virgin, you know."

Nick had some difficulties not to choke. _Why did she said that?_ He must have stared at her so full of surprise that she misunderstood him and became furious.

"You don't believe me, do you?", she said loud and some other mammals at the neighbouring tables turned their heads, "You think the daughter of a whore must be a whore, too?"

"Shhhh, Tracy, no, for Pete's sake, pipe down, will you?", Nick tried to calm her, "That was not what I thought, not at all! I was… just surprised, that a vivacious, beautiful vixen like you… I mean, every fox must fall in love with you!" He grabbed her paw with both of his and looked her deep in the eyes.

"Look at me", he continued, "I am here to make lots of money, but since I met you… I have only eyes for you, I can't concentrate on anything else! And when you said… that, I was just totally surprised, believe me!"

She still looked unsure but at least she was quiet. She looked down at the table cloth, before she looked Nick straight in the eyes.

"I am sorry, Nick, I really am. I… I overreacted, I don't know… sometimes I don't know what to do with myself. Sometimes I think my life is just a big fat lie, and when someone is so honest with his feelings as you are, I just… I just think, that everyone is a damn liar like myself. Can you forgive me?"

Nick sighed, "Of course, dear!"

"Can we go now?", she asked.

"Where to?"

"Could you show me your room?"

Nick looked at her puzzled, "Well, you know the room I have here is officially owned by someone else, so…"

"No, I meant your room in 3rd class!", she smiled.

For a second, Nick tried to remember if anything was lying around in the room that could give him away, but his crew outfit was well hidden and everything else could as well be part of his false identity as a thief.

"It's tiny and not very nice…"

"Oh, please, Nick…", she gave him puppy eyes, "I would like to see it…"

Nick shrugged, "Why not… let's go, then…"

Judy and Jack had arrived early at the Captain's Dinner and were immediately lead to the center table that was elevated so everyone around could see them well. An officer was awaiting them. She was dressed in a white gala uniform and gave Judy a huge smile. She was a wild cat and Judy didn't like her for some reason. The wild cat was about Nick's size, so she looked down upon her with a fake smile. Judy immediately noted the extremely large fang teeth.

"You must be Judith and Jakob, our newlyweds!", she said in heavily accented English, even though she pronounced the names german ("You-did" and "Yah-cop"), "I am First Officer Xenia Fjodorewna Dikayakoshka, but you can call me Xenia!", she continued, "I'll take care of you two lovebirds this evening!"

Judy gave her a big false smile, "Thank you, Xenia!", she said in a voice much higher than her usual one, so Jack noted immediately that Judy did not like the wild cat.

"You look wonderful in that dress!", Xenia said.

"Oh, thank you, but you look great in that uniform, too!"

Xenia laughed out, "Oh, my dear bunny, I bet you look great in uniform, too!"

Judy's face froze, "What do you mean by that?"

The wild cat waved her paw, "Oh, nothing… my english, not so good. I just meant, you would look great… you're the uniform type, you know!"

Judy and Jack sat down and Judy had a bad feeling. The chair left to Judy's was the only one not standing on the podium, but right before it, so a much bigger mammal would sit there. She was glad she would not sit next to Xenia.

More and more mammals flooded the room and a band began to play. At 8 pm exactly, the band played a fanfare, the two winged door opened and in came the Captain, a magnificent looking polar bear. This must be the biggest animal on board, he had to tilt his head a little to fit through the door. All uniform clad crewmembers in the dining saloon saluted and he nodded his giant head.

The conferencier took a microphone and yelled, "A warm welcome to our beloved Captain, Karl Doring!"

Everyone gave big paws and Captain Doring nodded again. He marched over to the big table in the center of the room and sat down right next to Judy. Even though his chair was much lower positioned, he still towered over her.

Captain Doring was a pro, he started conversation with the passengers on his table easily and also had a lot of nice words for Judy and Jack. He was an old german sea bear, full of anecdotes. He complimented Judy on her dress.

"You know, you two could have married here on the ship. A Captain still has that privilege. Some of our newlyweds like to repeat their vows…"

"No, thank you…", said Judy quickly, a little too quickly as the Captain gave her a puzzled look.

"Don't get me wrong… but we have gone through quite an ordeal with our marriage and now we are happy to finally have some time for ourselves!", she added.

"Oh, yes, I see!", the Captain smiled, "It was just an offer, no offense… oh, look, there is my First Officer, you already met Xenia, I suppose?"

When Judy nodded, he continued, "She is my right hand, wouldn't know how to deal with all the duty without her. She's Russian, you know, a bit full of temperament, but you get used to it… ah, Xenia, my dear, are you bringing the Tombola numbers?"

Xenia had a huge bowl in both paws, filled with tiny red balls.

"Tombola?", Judy asked.

"Yes, a kind of lottery!", Xenia answered with that false smile, "We have a huge number of prices, for 50 Euro you can draw a ball. The ball contains a number. In the conference room next door you will find our prices, all have a number attached to them. If you have a match, well, the price is yours!"

The Captain nodded, "Yes, and the passengers dining with me at my table are the privileged who are to draw first and…", he gave a wide smile, "I will treat you for your first ball!" The he added in a low voice, "Limited to one ball per cabin, of course!"

The other passengers at the table laughed and Xenia held the bowl in front of Judy's face. But before Judy could grab a ball, she pulled the bowl away.

"Oh, please, Judy, could you do me a favor? Please, let me draw a ball for you, I am sure, I bring you luck… and our Captain here is very strict, we officers are not allowed to participate in that fun!"

She nudged the Captain in his side and he let out a small laughter even though Judy noticed the strange look on his face. That wild cat bitch was planning something and obviously the Captain was not involved. Before Judy could answer, the paw of the wild cat was in the bowl. She made funny faces while twirling the balls around and again the other passengers at the table laughed yet again. They probably all thought this was part of the show.

Finally, she gave Judy one red ball. Judy thanked her and Xenia finally walked away to let the others draw. The conferencier announced that the passengers should wait until after the dinner before opening the balls.

The dinner consisted of six courses, all very delicious, but Judy was not eating much. Jack looked around nervously. Something was wrong here. The Captain took his fork and carefully hit his glass, the bell like sound muted the passengers. He gave a short speech, harvested some laughters and then…

"Please, now open your Tombola balls. Before everyone rushes off next door to collect the booty…", more laughter from the audience, "I will announce the numbers of the first three prizes!"

He took out a pair of glasses that looked ridiculously small on his huge head, it reminded Judy of Chief Bogo, and announced three numbers who would all win a voucher for another Maybach cruise, 1st class room, all expenses paid and an additional 5,000 Euro pocket money. Each time he read a number, someone screamed out loud in excitement. The last winner was the family of Lasse, the labrador cub who had played with Judy in the pool. Judy was happy for them. She had opened the ball Xenia had given to her and stared at the number: 27513. Just when she wanted to get up to join the crowd in the next room to see what she had won, the Captain cleared his throat.

"I am very proud to announce that we have an additional prize on today's journey. Our host in Antarctica, Herr Viktor Maybach will invite the winner to spend their vacation in a luxury apartment directly in Maybach's palace, which is normally out of bounds for passengers! Including is a meet and greet with Herr Maybach!"

The crowd started to murmur. It was common knowledge that Viktor Maybach lived a secluded life and this prize did not sound like him at all. But to see the famous palace in the everlasting ice would be a sight to see, especially as no photos of it existed.

Judy held her breath. Somehow she knew what would happen now. The Captain smiled and took out a small envelope, opening it slowly, then read "And the winner is… ball number 27513!"


	20. Chapter 20 - Arrival

**Chapter 20 - Arrival**

Nick opened the door to his tiny 3rd class cabin and switched on the lights. He quickly looked around, just to check that nothing lying around here could give away anything Tracy should not know. But she had already squeezed inside and giggled.

"Wow, this place is even smaller than I have imagined it!", she said.

"Yeah, but just right for my purpose", Nick smiled and opened the door to the adjacent shower and toilet. Here, he quickly checked that no laundry was lying around, in case Tracy wanted to use the room, when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound.

He twirled around to Tracy… and froze open mouthed.

The sound had come from Tracy's dress, it had fallen on the floor. Underneath she wore absolutely nothing. She stood in front of him, naked, her eyes wide open. Nick noticed she was panting and now he smelled the pheromones she produced.

"Tracy…", he said.

"Nick…", she replied and her voice was very soft now, "Please, Nick, I want you to be my first real lover. I've said it before, I never met someone like you. I love you, I really do!"

In this moment, she looked so vulnerable, so adorable, if Nick would not be so experienced, he might actually had fallen for her show. But he was quite sure that she did not feel real love for him, he was much too old for her. She was bored and yearned for protection and an adventure. Nick made a mental note to himself to be extremeley careful with that vixen. Constant vigilance was necessary. But for now, her desires played in his cards. He had to use her as an entrance to Maybach's palace, maybe he would be able to smuggle Judy and Jack in there, too. So, he approached her with a warm smile and embraced her.

"And I love you, my dear", he whispered in her ear, "If you take an old fox like me for your first lover, I would be honored!"

She giggled, "Sorry, Nick, I'm not laughing at you… but why does it always sound so stupid when two mammals talk about love?"

She started to undress him, "I don't care. Take me. Do whatever you want to me", she said.

Nick lifted her up carefully and laid her down on his small bed.

Meanwhile, in the Honeymoon Suite, Judy and Jack played on with her show of excitement. As soon as Judy had lifted her lottery ball with the correct number, they both had to play an overjoyed couple, had to endure countless congratulations, a kiss from that despicable wild cat, the Captain had smacked Jack's shoulder so hard that Jack was sure the imprint would last forever.

After some bottles of champagne, they had been finally allowed to retreat to their 'love nest' as that bitch Xenia had called it.

They 'celebrated' for another hour in order to not cause any suspicion with those guys who were watching them 24-7, before they finally went to bed and switched off the lights. They embraced each other in order to start a whispered conversation.

"They know it", said Judy, "they know everything. We could as well have spared us the entire show in the room."

"Maybe, maybe not", Jack said, "But better be safe than sorry."

"It was a trick! That bitch officer had not drawn the ball out of her bowl, she had it in her paw all the time! It was totally warm when she handed it over! Our win was staged!"

"Not so loud, dear", Jack warned, "Yes, you are right, that would be much too much luck to have. On the good side, we don't need to sneak inside Maybach's palace, we just can walk through the front door!"

"So, you want to walk open eyed into the trap?"

"What alternative do we have?", he responded, "If we refuse, they might kill us right away. I wonder how they have recognized me. There are no pictures of me around and I even went through the ordeal to dye my fur. No one in the Secret Service knows about the mission, except…"

"Except your boss, D!", hissed Judy, "Do you think, he might be…"

"… the mole? No, impossible. He is… like a father to me. No, impossible. The first law of the Secret Service is to trust no one, but he is out of question."

Judy was silent, but she was not hundred percent satisfied. In the end, that D was the only person who knew about them. Maybe it had been her trip to Nick's cabin that gave them away. But as Jack did not mention that option, she wouldn't, neither.

Nick, who did not know about Judy's and Jack's big win, was lying in bed sleepless. Tracy was next to him, she breathed slowly, but Nick was not sure if she really was sleeping. He had forgotten how messy vulpine sex was. In the beginning of his relationship with Judy, she had often complained about the amount of body fluids produced by him, but that was nothing against what a vixen left on the sheets. The mix of Tracy's pheromones and the stench of their fluids filled the entire small windowless cabin.

Nonetheless, a hundred plans were forming in his head, he carefully evaluated each and every one of them before he discarded most of them. How tight was the security in Antarctica? In the tourist resort? In Maybach's palace? How close would Tracy get to him? Was there any chance to bring Judy, Jack, or both inside?

He sighed. He simply had not enough information to create a proper plan. He would have to made up a plan as it went. Just when he was on the brink of sleep, Tracy said "Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"What will you do as soon as we arrive in Antarctica?", she asked.

Nick hesitated. Should he immediately suggest his plan? Was she serious about him? When he asked her to stay with her, she might as well laugh out loud, saying that he was just an adventure for her (and a part of Nick would not be sorry if she did just that!)

He decided to approach her with a question himself.

"So, do you still want to see Viktor Maybach and check out was he has in stock for you? I mean, a new job, modeling, you know."

Now it was her who hesitated, "I am… I mean, I think… yes, I still think I want to do that. You might not understand, but he is the first person who really thinks that I could be more than just a pretty sneaking thief!"

"Oh, I understand you better than you might know!", Nick said, thinking of Judy in a meter maid uniform standing in front of the elephant's ice cream parlor.

She sighed, "Yes, I think you really do understand me!"

"Tracy…", Nick started, "I… I would like to go with you. And I have thought of a plan that would allow me to stay with you…"

She jerked upwards so quickly, that Nick nearly fell out of bed.

"You… you really want to do that?", she said gasping with eyes wide open, "Oh, Nick, I never would have dreamed of that! I thought you were just using me as a toy, having some fun with that dumb little vixen…"

Nick pouted, "What have I done to deserve such a bad reputation?", he asked.

Tracy laughed, embraced him and kissed him.

"Nothing, darling, nothing. It's my fault. I would be glad if you come along with me. To be honest, I am afraid. I never have done anything like this my whole life. What if that Maybach guy talks to me and sends me away?"

Nick smirked, "Then, I would consider him clearly out of his mind!"

She giggled and pressed her body angainst his. Nick noticed a change of smell in the room. Did she wants again… She panted hard and attacked the lower half of his body ferociously. Well, obviously, the next days would result in hard work for him.

When Bogo, Kitty, Jasper and Tony finally stood on the small airfield on Fawcett Island, all they wanted was sleep. In Buenos Aires, they had to ran to catch their plane to Ushuaia and when they made it to the desolate town, they had to wait in the pouring rain for three hours for their connection to Fawcett. The plane was tiny, only two seats barely big enough for Bogo and Tony. The pilot (the only crew member) exhaled in surprise when he saw the two of them.

Kitty had had the feeling that the small plane needed the entire runway (and a bit more) until the wheels finally disconnected from the ground. The flight was unpleasant, very bumpy and rough, the air in the small plane was stale and hot and smelling of kerosene. All four had to fight against nausea and headache.

Bogo tried to get out of his baby elephant snow suit, but every time he moved, the plane tilted from one side to another until the pilot yelled at him to stop rocking or if he wanted to kill them all.

But now they had arrived and Bogo and Kitty waited for their luggage (or Kitty's luggage, to be exact) while Tony and Jasper walked to the village looking for accommodation.

There were no luggage carts and Bogo carried three suitcases while Kitty heaved the smallest one herself. Bogo was drenched in sweat when they finally met the other two.

"We have good news and bad news…", Tony started and Bogo grunted.

"Good news is, we found two double rooms – the last they had. The hotel, if you want to call that place a hotel, is for preds only!", he explained.

"So that's the bad news?", Bogo said.

"No, that's still good news!", Tony replied.

They walked for ten minutes until they reached a shabby two story building.

When they entered, a wolverine, looking as shabby as the rest of the building, greeted them with laughter.

"My, my, looks like the circus is in town!", he said and cackled at his own joke.

He was distracted by Bogo's flashy snow suit but then he snorted.

"Hey, what kind of mammal are you?", he said, "some kind of buffalo? Can't you guys read? This hotel is for preds only!"

Bogo stepped forward, "And what do you think I am?", he said.

His voice was low and full of anger, but the wolverine seemed to like a dangerous life.

"You are a fucking piece of grass eating prey, so piss off. We don't want to have that vermin in our clean rooms!"

Slowly, Bogo took the bell from the reception desk and squeezed the metal into a tiny ball.

"So, prey am I?", he said slowly while the wolverine stared on what had been his bell five seconds ago, "Then, why don't you eat me?"

"What?", the wolverine spit out confused.

"Well, you are pred, I am prey. So hunt me, kill me and eat me!", Bogo said.

"I… but… I mean… you can't come in here and…"

"The keys! Now!", Bogo said.

The wolverine gulped, "Well… I think we can make an exception in this special case…", he said slowly while handing over the keys.

Silently, they carried their luggage to the second floor.

"Tony, you haven't told us the bad news yet", Kitty said.

Tony gave her the saddest grin, "Well…"

He unlocked the door and opened it.

"You must be joking!", Bogo said, "That's a closet!"

The room was tiny, a single chair, no table and a tiny bed, at least for Bogo and Tony.

Kitty tried to think positive, "At least it's much cleaner than I expected…"

"And they only got two rooms?", Bogo asked again.

Tony nodded.

"Okay", Tony said, "it is pretty obvious that me and the Chief can't share a room, we wouldn't even fit in here together…"

Bogo nodded, "Fangmeyer, with me, then!", he said quickly and stared at Tony as the giant tiger shook his head.

"That won't work, Chief… you know pretty well that felines move around quite a lot in their sleep. I would squeeze Kitty to death if I roll on her and wouldn't even notice. Jasper here is much bigger. And water buffalos don't move during their sleep, correct?"

Bogo started to sweat. Everything Tony had said was right. Due to his horns, he could only lie on his back and could not turn his head.

"I could sleep on the floor…", Kitty suggested.

"No!", yelled Jasper, Bogo and Tony in unison.

"Well…", Kitty said slowly while looking in any direction except towards Bogo, "then…"

Quickly she grabbed the key out of Tony's paw and marched off.

"I'm tired", she said, "I need to sleep now!"

Shyly, she turned around and her sapphire eyes glowed when she addressed Bogo.

"Do you come?"

Tony vanished quickly into his room pulling Fangmeyer with him and closed the door. Bogo, suddenly left alone, gulped and without a word followed the tiny feline. He had no idea how he could handle anything the following night would bring.

Arrival! The ship's horns blared full power and it seems all passengers stood on deck watching the harbor of what Maybach had named 'Burrow of Inle'. The weather was a bit misty, but not so cold as most mammals would have been expected from Antarctica. A pale sun was blinking through the mist. The tourist resort behind the harbor looked splendid, polished glass surfaces everywhere.

Behind the resort, however, was Maybach's palace. It was a bit away from the shore, so the true size of it was not showing from here, but Judy and Jack had seen the pics and knew how big that building really was.

The ship moored and deboarding took several hours, but Jack and Judy were one of the first to step on land via the front gangway while some 800 feet behind them, Nick and Tracy did the same on another gangway. The two foxes had been ushered in front of everyone due to Tracy's special status.

Nick's feet felt wobbly when he did the first steps on land again. Tracy grabbed his arm. A ferocious looking siberian tiger, a female, stood in front of them holding up a sign reading 'Whitney'.

"Remember the story we agreed on!", hissed Nick.

Tracy just nodded, looking nervous.

They approached the tigress who showed huge teeth while smiling at them.

"Hi, my name is Natalia Andrejewna, please call me Natalia. You must be Tracy, correct?", she said with a heavy russian accent and gave Nick a puzzled look, "And who might that be?"

"Oh", said Tracy and giggled, "this is Nickolas Whitney, my father. He's with me."

The tigress looked at her clipboard.

"But my papers say nothing about…"

"Oh, please, let me explain!", interrupted Nick quickly, "It's all my fault, you know. I was against the whole thing, travelling so far away… she is still so young, you know. Well… we had a fight and…"

"… and I ran away!", Tracy fell in. The Natalia's head jerked from one to another like during a tennis match. She was confused and exactly that was what Nick had planned.

"Yeah, so I took all my money, flew to Ushuaia, borded the ship using a false identity…", Nick went on when Tracy interrupted again, "… yeah, he tried to convince me to come back, but then…"

"… well, we made up and I agreed to let her look at this place… as long as I may stay with her!", Nick concluded.

They both looked smilingly at Natalia who was at a loss. This was a situation she had not expected. Nick remembered what Jack had said about the girls Maybach hired, very young, beautiful, but not the brightest. This was one of them, no mistake.

"Erm… wait a sec… I need to make a phone call", she said quickly and left them alone.

Nick and Tracy stood there and watched her talking agitatedly in a cell phone. Other passengers passed them by, all excited.

When the tigress finally hung up she looked furious. However, as soon as she turned towards them, she smiled.

"Okay, I checked it all with Herrn Maybach… he invites you to stay here. Currently, we have a bit more guests then planned, so you two have to share a room."

"Oh, no problem, I'm glad for Mr. Maybach's invitation, please tell him I'm sorry for all the confusion and extra work…", Nick said, but Natalia had already turned around so vigorously, her tail hit Nick in the face.

"Yeah, yeah… please come with me, Tracy… Mr. Whitney…"

Nick smirked, "Oh, please call me Nick!", he said.

The huge tiger walked ahead and the two much smaller foxes had to hurry up to stay behind her. They climbed in a small golf cart and the tiger drove them to the palace. From close up the view was much more intimidating. Nick noticed, that they did not approach the main entrance but a small conceiled door. Only the electric lock and the big sign 'Nur für Angestellte' (employees only) gave it away.

Natalia took a small tablet computer, a black model with a thick red stripe and swiped it over the lock. A small humming sound and the door was open.

Without a word they walked on, tunring right here, left there, while Nick tried to memorize the way. They stopped in front of an unmarked door.

"Here!", Natalia said finally, giving Tracy a white unmarked batch, "Wear this in here all the time. It opens your door. I'll get another one for you", she said in Nick's direction, "Your luggage will arrive soon. Refresh yourselves, Herr Maybach will have lunch with you in one hour."

She had said all this rather unfriendly, but suddenly her mood changed. With a smile she put her giant paw on Tracy's shoulder.

"I hope we become good friends", she purred, "You'll see, we are a great team, the other girls are nice, too, I hope you'll make a lot of new friends…"

After she had vanished and Nick and Tracy were alone in their comfortable room, Tracy shook her head.

"Wasn't that weird?", she said, "Her mood changed from pushy to charming in…"

Nick hold his finger in front of his snout and Tracy became silent. He looked around carefully and found at least one object that looked suspiciously like a camera. While he searched he started a harmless conversation with Tracy about how nice the room was and so on. In fact, it was really nice, a large living room, a separate bedroom with two single beds – Tracy gave him an evil smile. The bathroom was luxurious, with a huge shower and a tub.

They quickly refreshed and changed into more formal clothes, Nick wore an elegant black suit while Tracy changed into a white dress, simple, but emphasizing her tremendous figure. After that, all they could do was waiting…

Meanwhile, not so very far away, Judy unpacked her suitcase in an even more luxurious room. When they arrived at the pier, Judy had immediately recognized the beautiful lynx girl from Poland that Jack had shown her during his presentation. Her name was Agnieszka, Judy remembered, but the lynx had introduced herself as 'Annie'. When Jack's information were correct, she was only 16 years old, but Judy noticed that she was very confident and she was radiating pure happiness. She didn't look like a hostage at all. She had congratulated Jack and Judy over and over again and had been very nice to them while bringing them to their room.

Annie had offered to give them the big tour during the afternoon as Viktor Maybach would have dinner with them 'not before 6pm'. However, she had allowed them two hours to unpack and relax.

Judy put her cosmetic bag in the bathroom while Jack looked at his cell phone.

"Strange…", he said, "But I cannot detect any cameras or microphones in here!"

"Are you sure?", asked Judy anxiously.

"Yes, I even made a self-test in order to check if the detector is still working."

"I wonder if Nick had found out about our luck…", she said thoughtfully.

"I doubt it, especially if he stayed in third class", Jack said.

"So what will we do as soon as we meet Maybach?", asked Judy cautiously.

Jack exhaled loudly.

"We need to find out how much he knows. What does he want? Why hadn't he killed us or sent us off board as he did with the other agents? Let's see how the conversation will go this night", he concluded.

"Should I left the talking to you?", Judy asked.

"Hell, no!", Jack snorted, "You are the most clever bunny I ever met! I want you to talk to him, hell, flirt with him, if necessary, try to find out as much as possible!"

Judy gulped, "My head feels so empty right now…"

"You're just tired. Lie down, we still have 80 minutes until Annie comes back. Take a nap."

Judy thought she could never sleep in a million years but as soon as her head touches the soft pillow, her eyes shut and the fatigue of the previous days took it's toll.


	21. Chapter 21 - A Hard Night

[Hi folks, after long absence due to sickness, I am back! Thanks for the IM asking for my wellbeing, I am much better now and hope to can finish this asap]

 **Chapter 21 – A Hard Night**

Bogo had left Kitty alone in the room to give her enough privacy to get ready for bed. He had climbed the stairs to reach the roof of the small hotel and up there his cell phone got a connection. He called the ZPD headquarters to receive a status report from the shift supervisor. No news regarding Judy and Nick. The mayor had asked several times why he had missed their weekly meeting and Bogo wrote a short message to her, writing something about a family emergency that needed his attention.

When he was ready, he went down again and after taking a deep breath, entered the room. Kitty had turned off all the lights. Her eyes glowed in the dark and in the weak light from the lamp in the corridor Bogo could see her lying in bed, sheets pulled up to her chin.

Without a word, he walked in the bathroom. Kitty's beauty case stood on the little sink. His own small bag with his bathroom stuff stood on the floor. He washed, brushed his teeth and changed in a pair of large boxers and a baggy old T-shirt.

Hesitating, he opened the door. He walked to his side of the bed and entered as carefully as possible, however, the bed squeaked and made terrible noises and for a second, Bogo thought the legs would break. But then, finally, he laid still on his back. He heard Kitty's breath right next to him. In order not to touch her, he was lying as far outside as possible, half of his left buttock was hanging outside.

"Good night, MacMahon!", he said in a voice as if he would leave the office right now.

"Good night, Chief!", came the response.

Bogo thought he could never sleep in, however, the long flight and the jet lag took their toll and within sixty seconds he was fast asleep.

Xavier felt a bit nervous. He was sitting in his best uniform in front of the giant screen in the big conference room on board of the MS Germania. Xenia sat next to him and he was pretty sure that she was nervous, too. On the screen appeared their big boss, Viktor Maybach himself. The bunny looked tiny in his oversized chair behind his huge desk.

"Ah, there they are, my two heroes, Xavier and Xenia, the X-men!", said Maybach and chuckled at his own joke.

Xenia and Xavier both managed a nervous grin.

"Xenia, my girl, I always knew that my trust in you would pay off one day. And this must be handsome Xavier, oh, my friend, you should hear Xenia when she talks about you…", Maybach went on.

Xenia let out a cough and interjected a quick "Very funny!"

Maybach's face turned straight and he looked directly at Xavier now.

"Well, my friend, I heard you disclosed our police officer Judith Wilde for us… you don't know how thankful I am for that. She is currently waiting here in my palace, thanks to you, and I will meet her this evening!"

Xavier was not sure if the grin on Maybach's face was positive or not.

"What…", he said slowly, "What will you do with her?"

Xenia kicked his leg under the table, but Maybach gave him a friendly nod.

"Oh, don't worry, she's absolutely safe here. With your help, I found out that she is a one in a million exception, a rare carrier of the L4 enzyme. She will propel my scientific researches so much… promoting you to officer rank is the very least I could do!"

"Thank you, sir!", Xavier said quickly.

He had not understood at all what Maybach meant, his English was full of strange expressions even though his German accent was barely noticeable.

Suddenly, Maybach lifted his right paw.

"But there is one thing I do not understand…", he said and both Xenia and Xavier knew instantly that something was wrong.

"How could a simple fox get on my ship with a false identity, sneaking up to my most valuable asset on board without any of you noticing?"

Xenia gulped and said, "I am sorry, sir, I do not know what you…"

"Yes", interrupted Maybach, "Yes, that's exactly what's worrying me, that you don't know. I had selected a new girl for my… let's call it scientific collection… a young vixen from the U.A.K., her name is Tracy Whitney…"

"Yes, I know her. We treated her as a first class passenger, as you had ordered, sir!", said Xenia.

"Well, it seems that she had a quarrel with her father about coming to me, so he had sneaked aboard using a false identity and was able to contact her!", said Maybach and Xavier did not need full HD to see that he was really pissed about it.

"I would have to get rid of him, but we noticed only when they arrived and now he is sitting here in my palace watching every step his daughter makes!", he slammed his paw on the desk.

"But sir, I do not understand, we checked the ship for foxes, because of that Wilde bunny, she is married to a fox, you know…"

"OF COURSE I KNOW, YOU IMBECILE!", screamed Maybach. He took a deep breath.

"Sorry, this was not helpful", he said quietly, "So, please tell me what you found out!"

Xenia continued, "Sir, we had three foxes on board, Miss Whitney and two others, I checked them all myself!"

"Before or after the ship stopped in Ushuaia?", Maybach asked as casually as if we ask for the time.

"Well…", Xenia hesitated, "before, I think… yes, definitely before!"

Panic started to rise in her. She may have overlooked a very serious thing here… Xavier had already turned around and was hammering on the keyboard of his laptop.

"Three more foxes boarded the ship in Ushuaia!", he said, eyes wide with panic.

"A third class passenger named Nick Vulpes, a first class passenger named Klaus Becker and a crew member named Gerhard Vortmüller!"

"A crew member?", Xenia screamed, "No way! I will be informed of any new hires and I didn't know that we got new crew members in Ushuaia!"

"My dear Xenia", Maybach said calmly, and somehow this was worse than his yelling, "the things you don't know about your ship seem to fill books…"

"Where does he work?", she yelled at Xavier.

"Kitchen! He's a cook… but wait… something's wrong here… I can't find him on any duty roster!", Xavier continued typing.

Maybach shook his head, "I bet on Nick Vulpes. Tracy's father's name's Nick, too… and 'Vulpes'… what a stupid false name for a fox. Show me the picture of him!"

When Xavier clicked the pictures open, he gasped in shock.

"What?", Xenia and Maybach asked simultaneously.

Xavier clicked, bracing for impact when he sent the pics to the big screen.

"That's Vulpes…", he said.

"I was right, that's him!", grinned Maybach.

"Wait, sir… that's Becker… and that is cook Vortmüller!"

All three stared on the screen.

"I'll be darned…", said Maybach, "they all look the same!"

"Because they _are_ the same, sir!", said Xavier.

Maybach shook his head, "This clever son of a bitch, this foxy fox! He used three identities! That's why he could wander around my ship and find Tracy!"

"But sir…", started Xavier.

"Sir, I can assure you, I didn't know!", Xenia was now really in a panic, "Our surveillance department should have noticed a thing like that! They should have checked that! I will make them personally responsible…"

"Sir…", tried Xavier again.

"Xenia, it's no use trying to blame someone else…"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP, IT'S EVEN WORSE!", yelled Xavier.

Xenia and Maybach stared at him open-mouthed. He was pale, his tongue was lolling out as he could not sweat. His eyes were so large and bulgy, Xenia feared they would pop out.

"What do you mean, it's worse?", asked Maybach.

"I know who this is!", said Xavier.

"Yeah, of course, that's Nick Whitney, the father of…"

"NO!", yelled Xavier again.

"Listen, if you do yell at me once again, I will personally…", started Maybach, but to Xenia's horror, Xavier interrupted him yet again.

"Sir, this is Nick Wilde! The cop! The husband of Judy Wilde!"

For ten seconds there was complete silence.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm sure. I never forget a face… and I have seen her wedding picture and he was the groom, I am absolutely certain about that!", said Xavier.

Xenia looked from Maybach to Xavier and back again like watching a tennis game. She was sure that her career, maybe her life was about to end. If this was true…

Maybach started laughing. First low, then he threw back his tiny head and laughed and laughed, hammering his fists on his desk, burying his head inside his arms. It took him two full minutes to recover, then he sat back and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"Isn't life great?", he said to Xavier's and Xenia's utter astonishment, "This opens a million of opportunities for me… I have spent sleepless nights thinking of how I could possibly put pressure on dear Judy and now it turns out, her dear fox husband is already sitting at my table! Well…", he looked at the clock, "at least, in one hour he will…"

He clapped his paws.

"Xenia, it has been a great pleasure chatting with you again. Xavier, you are a great guy, you will make your way, I'm sure of that. I will inform the Captain of your promotion. Congrats. I have tons of things to take care of, so you will excuse me…"

Xenia listened but couldn't believe it, "But sir, what about…"

"Oh, don't think about it, for once your mistake had solved my problems, so everything's pardoned, we will simply forget about this… security glitch… and never mention it again. Except, of course, if you insist…"

"NO!", yelled Xavier and Xenia at the same time.

"Well, I thought you wouldn't!", grinned Maybach, "Macht's gut!"

The screen went black.

Xenia slumped on the floor where she stood.

Xavier stood up from his chair, his legs felt like rubber, checking if she had fainted, but she lifted her feline head and stared at him.

"Tell me, this wasn't a dream, was it?", she gasped, "I really thought I was a goner…"

"Yeah, me too!", grinned Xavier.

Sometime later, Nick was surprised. After ten minutes with Viktor Maybach, he was totally relaxed. He had expected to be tense, to say the least – this guy was, according to the Secret Service, one of the most dangerous villains in history. But Nick had to admit that he felt sympathy for the rich tycoon.

Maybach ("Oh, please, call me Viktor!") was much smaller than Nick had expected, he was smaller than Judy. Even though everything in his office was huge or even enormous, for some strange reason the bunny was not dwarfed by it – on the contrary, somehow this looked like this was the correct size for him. Not that Viktor was one of these 'Hey, look at me, I'm rich, I'm the boss, I'm always right' guys, on the contrary. He had shaken Nick's paw in a humble, but the affectionate way and Nick told himself to be careful not to be too much taken by him. _Remember, this is our target!_ he said to himself.

Viktor seemed to be very impressed by Tracy. She was downright nervous, but after some time, she seemed to be flattered by the compliments Viktor made to her.

"Your daughter is wonderful!", Viktor said while pouring a glass of wine, "She is not only beautiful, she is so vivacious! Of course, you know that, but you really should have seen her at the model contest. She walked there, no care in the world as if her future life was not depending on it at all! Her tail swayed from left to right and her eyes! Her eyes! Ohh, I knew she would win after ten seconds!"

"She was there without my permission!", said Nick and forced himself not to smile, not to look too friendly, "A lot of these so-called model contest are just some rich geezers way to lure in young girls…"

"Daddy…", said Tracy softly.

They played their roles and Nick had the impression that Viktor was buying their story.

"When I noticed she had run away and was on that ship…"

"Oh,I can imagine!", said Viktor, "You are a real father, you must protect your girl, of course. And what an adventurous story, to sneak on the ship using a false identity!"

Was there some irony in Viktor's voice? Nick was not sure.

"It had cost me all my money to get the airline ticket and the third class passage…", Nick said with a stern voice, looking to the floor.

"Oh, dear Nick, I will pay that back, just tell me the sum, I'll write a check! I'm so sorry, I really think we should change our process, maybe having a form where parents could give their approval…"

"The girls who really want to participate would just fake their parents' signature…", said Tracy laughing.

"Hm, yeah… well, my people will think of something", Viktor smiled.

"You are so different from what they say in the news…", Nick said.

"Yeah, typical!", Viktor waved off, "He's rich, he must be bad! He's a prey, he must be unfair to predators! He has strange ideas, he must be mad! I've had it all!"

Suddenly, he lifted his glass.

"I'll give you an example, Nick! Do you like the wine?"

Nick shrugged, "Yeah, it's not too bad…"

"Not too bad, eh?", repeated Maybach, "What do you think one bottle of this stuff costs?"

"I hope, not too much…", said Nick hesitantly as he did not know where this would lead.

"Ahhh!", Maybach smiled, "And why do you hope that?"

"Well… I think this wine is rather ordinary!"

Maybach clapped his paws, "Exactly! It's my favorite wine, I like the taste… but you can buy it everywhere, even in the duty-free shop down in the resort, for just 2 Euro a bottle! But when I have important guests, rich guys, politicians, they all think that this wine must be extremely expensive and they nearly fell down on their knees before me when I give them a bottle!"

He leaned back and looked at Nick, "But not you, of course. I could never outfox a fox, could I?"

There it was again, the little trace of irony in his voice that Nick noted before. But before he could think of a clever answer, Maybach suddenly jumped up.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, Tracy, my dear girl, our doctor wants to see you after lunch. Nothing serious, just a check-up and…", he hesitated, "… maybe a little vaccination shot, we all had problems here with a certain virus. No one thought a mean little 'flu could live here in the ice, but obviously, it does!"

As if he had waited, the door opened and a badger came in, dressed in a white lab coat. Tracy looked a bit hesitantly at Nick when she realized she had to go with him.

Maybach nodded at Nick, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. Why don't you walk around a bit, maybe go and check out the resort, we have quite a nice mall there!"

Nick still looked at the badger. He had the feeling that he knew this guy, but couldn't put a paw on it. However, the meeting with Maybach seemed to be over, so when he had left the dining room, he sighed. Nick had the impression that they were not closer to solve this puzzle as they had been weeks back in Zootopia.

 _Bogo took a deep breath and opened the door to the bull pit, as the briefing room of the ZPD was called. The room was crowded with officers and pandemonium reigned. No one looked at him, no one shouted 'Atten-hut!' There was loud talking, laughing, joking, arm-wrestling and when Bogo shouted 'Silence!', no one reacted at all. It was as if he was invisible. And in addition to all this, a strange noise hummed through the room, as if someone mowed the lawn directly in here._

 _Bogo smashed his clipboard on his desk but still, no one reacted. Tony was telling jokes to Fangmeyer and Wolfowitz, McHorn was eating – eating, in the briefing room! And in the front, Judy and Nick Wilde were passionately kissing right in front of everyone!_

' _What's wrong with you, guys! I will not tolerate this behavior…', Bogo screamed, but still, his voice seemed tiny and with no power at all. The strange mowing sound got louder, the officers jeered when Nick sat Judy on the table and started to unbutton her blouse._

' _Stop that! Now!', Bogo screamed._

 _Finally, the crowd seemed to have noticed him as they all turned their heads and looked at him, a wide grin on their faces. They opened their mouths in sync and… started making this strange noise, that noise, that had reminded Bogo of a lawn mower, but in reality this was…_

… not a lawn mower at all! Bogo woke up, gasping. It took him a while to realize that he was not in the bullpen, not even in Zootopia, but on a faraway island, in a crappy hotel, in a small room, all alone with… Kitty! Due to his massive horns, he was unable to turn his head so he turned his eyes as far to the right as possible. The noise was still audible and Bogo realized it was Kitty snoring. Well, snoring maybe was a little too much, it just sounded that loud because… because her head was pressed against his and she was breathing right in his ear! He gulped. Even worse (or better?), her whole body was pressed against his, he could feel her long bare legs against his rib cage and her arm was wrapped around him.

Just when he decided to clear his throat in order to wake her up, a loud knocking on the door make him flinch.

"Chief? Kitty? Are you up? It's half past seven already…"

The baritone voice of Tony rang through the tiny room.

"Coming!", yelled Kitty, jumping elegantly out of the bed. Typical cat, she could switch from deep asleep to wide awake in a second. Bogo turned his head and froze in shock. In the dim light, he saw Kitty reaching for the door handle, her slender curvy figure dressed in a string tanga that could easily have been stored in an empty shotgun round. A white, semitransparent tank top tried its best to hide her voluptuous breasts. _Don't open the door like that!_ he wanted to yell, but after opening his mouth his brain refused to operate his vocal cords as it was too busy imprinting Kitty's image permanently on his retinas.

Kitty opened the door and Tony was about to say something, but obviously, the brain of the huge tiger was wired the same way as Bogo's as he just opened his mouth with the words stuck.

"Tony, what's wrong?", Kitty said, obviously unaware of her influence on the situation.

"Nothing…", he finally managed to say, "I just thought we should… you know… we need to charter a plane… and it's already pretty cat… I mean pretty late… and breakfast is ready down there!"

"Go!", yelled Bogo, "we come down as soon as we are ready!"

Tony started to grin and was just about to say something, but the look on Bogo's face made him just nod and close the door.

Kitty sighed and pressed her paws in her hips, "Should I shower first or…"

"YES!", interrupted Bogo quickly. There was no way he could get up in front of Kitty as his flimsy shorts would not hide his massive erection. Kitty looked surprised at his loud voice but then she shrugged and vanished inside the small bathroom.


	22. Chapter 22 - Sudden Changes

**Chapter 22 – Sudden Changes**

A badger in a white lab coat had arrived at the dining room and Viktor Maybach introduced him as Professor Wilhelm. He should take care of Tracy and give her a vaccination shot as far as Nick understood. He did not like being separated from her, but he had no choice. The Siberian tigress, Natalia, had arrived, this time she was very friendly to him and lead him away.

"Nick, why don't you take a look at our marvelous holiday center?", she said, "You can take one of the electric carts, they are heated, so you will be warm and comfy. Go through the mall!"

Before Nick knew, he was at the main door of the palace. Two huge polar bears were guarding the entrance and scanned his new badge.

"Just for security reasons", Natalia said with her heavy Russian accent, "you know, so we can check if someone got lost… Out here you are frozen to death in under 30 minutes!"

Nick had no choice, he thanked Natalia and drove one of the smaller carts to the giant hotel complex. But when he turned around and looked at Viktor's palace, the complex seemed to be rather small.

For the next two hours, Nick strolled through the hotel. It was pure luxury, he looked through giant glass panes into the thermal indoor pool that had several climate zones to comfort every kind of mammal, hundreds of shops and restaurants. It took him a while to find the wing with the VIP rooms. He had to use two elevators until he finally arrived at suite 671, where Judy and Jack should reside.

He took a deep breath when he saw that the door was open, but was disappointed when all he found was a female dog vacuuming the room. Otherwise, the room was completely empty. He broke out in sweat and asked the dog girl if the room was vacant, but she was Spanish and Nick did not know a single word of that language.

With a lot of gestures, he finally found out that the room indeed was vacant.

The next hour he walked aimlessly through the spacey luxurious resort, getting more and more nervous. He had no idea where Judy and Jack were, no idea what to do and still absolutely no idea what Viktor Maybach was planning – or even if he was planning something at all.

One mile away, in a brightly lighted underground level of Viktor's palace, Tracy Whitney was not feeling comfortable at all. She hated visits at the doctor and the talking about some vaccination was not improving her mood. The badger guy in the white lab coat was nice and tried everything to make her feel better, but Tracey noted that he never gave her a straight answer to any of her questions.

When he asked her to lay down on a lab table and he and some other white dressed guys fixed her with thick belts, she nearly started panicking.

"Hey, hey, wait… what are you doing? I do not want that…"

"Calm down, Tracy, that's a good girl… it's just for your own safety. The vaccination you are about to get sometimes… causes reactions", Professor Wilhelm said, "In a minute you feel much better…"

Tracy started to kick but it was too late. She was not able to move by an inch. A nice looking labrador lady with ice-cold eyes brought a huge syringe filled with a shimmering yellow liquid.

"Oh my god…", Tracy exclaimed, "this is not my… you don't want to give me this giant thing…"

But the Professor had already stuck the needle in her left arm and started to inject the yellow fluid.

Suddenly, she felt hot. She heard her heartbeat drumming in her sensible fox ears, getting faster and faster.

"250 beats per minute…", the labrador lady said, "270… 290… 310… Professor, she will…"

"Don't worry", interrupted the Professor, "She is a fox and a rather young one. I have anticipated that. Her heart can stand up to 380 bpm. If it goes above, inject 250 milligrams of antihistamine, but it will not be necessary… see? 240 and dropping…"

Tracy panted like she just ran a marathon. She felt like every fiber of her body was vibrating, so full of energy. The Labrador gave the professor a tablet computer with a red stripe and he started typing on it. The dog girl looked over the shoulder of the badger.

"Wow, she is adapting really quickly…", she said.

"Hm… let's see…", Wilhelm just said. The two walked over to a table with an oversized flatscreen on it.

"Tracy, why don't you come over?", Wilhelm said smilingly, typing on the tablet.

The vixen simply stood up, the restraining belts ripping like tissue paper without her even noticing. She walked over to the table and felt like her feet were not touching the floor. Wilhelm had a chair for her and she sat down and looked on the flatscreen that showed a bunch of what looked like mathematical formulas.

"What's that?", she said.

"My dear Tracy this is the proof of Fermat's last theorem. The theorem itself is very easy, but it took the best mathematicians nearly 300 years to prove it. Be a good girl and look over it, it's some 270 pages."

He pressed a button and every two seconds a new page appeared on the screen full of incomprehensive gibberish.

"Professor, I am sorry, but… I quit school early and I have no idea of math at all. I have never heard of Fermi's theo-whatever and…"

"Fermat, dear, Fermat…", he interrupted gently, "don't worry… just look…"

She sighed and stared on the screen, looking bored, when all of a sudden…

"Stop!", she yelled, "two pages back! No, one more… there!", she pointed at the screen, "this plus symbol there should be a minus! Otherwise…", she suddenly looked confused and turned around to look at the grinning badger, "it doesn't make any sense…", she whispered.

"Very good, girl, very good. There is only a handful of mammals who can understand this proof to its full extent and you seem to be one of them… congratulations!"

"Wow", Tracy sighed laughing, "I didn't knew I had this in me…"

"But I did!", a voice was saying from behind her. Tracy turned around and saw the minuscule figure of Viktor Maybach, "I knew from the second I met you that you are something special…"

The tiny bunny looked at the Professor, "My friend, I think I can take it from here and perform a final test to see if our dear Tracy is now a part of our happy family!"

"But, sir", Wilhelm replied, "I still need to perform the usual recognition test… and also perform the introduction in…"

"Ah, don't worry about this, I don't think it's necessary to put our dear vixen through all the ordeal. Thanks a lot, why don't you go in one of your labs and play around with some test tubes?"

"Sir, with all due respect, I will not…"

"Go. Now", Maybach said quietly.

The Professor looked furious but retreated with his assistant without any further words. After he slammed the door, Viktor grinned.

"Scientists…", he said, "always so full of themselves. But my poor Tracy darling, I bet you are starving right now!"

"Well, to be honest, yes, I really am!" Tracy said.

"That can be fixed", Viktor smiled and took out his phone. After a short conversation, another door opened. Two polar bears stood in the door frame and after Viktor nodded, they made way for a small electric cart, driven by a squirrel in a white uniform with a cook cap on her head. She was sitting on top of the cart, steering. Next to her stood three plates covered with silver dome shaped lids.

She stopped right in front of them and took a small bow in Viktor's direction.

"Sir", her tiny voice said, "here are the three dishes you ordered."

"Thank you, my dear vixen friend here is starving. Oh, could you please be so kind and tell you what's on the menu today?"

"Of course", the squirrel nodded obediently. She uncovered the first plate.

"Imported fruit, oranges, mango and pineapples", she said, then walked over to the second one.

"Surrogate stew with baked potatoes and red cabbage", and, "Sweet cream over vanilla pudding."

After presenting the food she walked to the side of the cart and stood next to the three plates.

"Well, my hungry vixen, what do you like?", said Viktor, who was not able to look at the dishes due to his size.

Tracy looked from left to right, "I don't know… I suddenly have that strange feeling, that…"

"Yeah, what?", asked Viktor while looking on the tablet computer.

"I… it may sound funny… but I really want…", Tracy shook her beautiful head, "nah, I can't say that, it's crazy…"

"Oh, do not be shy, darling… just tell me what is going on in your wonderful head…", Viktor insisted.

"I'd like to have…", she slowly turned her head from one plate to another until her eyes were fixed on the squirrel, "…it!"

"What?" squeaked the squirrel irritated, "If this is a joke I am not laughing!" She stamped her little foot on the metal surface of the cart.

"Well", grinned Viktor, "do what you want to do… what you NEED to do… what is in your nature!"

In a quick movement, Tracy's paw crushed down on the squirrel, but her reflexes were quick and she jumped on the floor and started running to the door. Tracy, on all four now, pounced and nailed the squeaking rodent to the floor, growling. Her head bowed down, a cracking sound and the squeaking stopped.

In the background, Viktor looked at the tablet screen, a wide grin on his small face.

Many miles away, on the small island called Fawcett, Tony and Jasper were sitting in the shabby breakfast room of the islands only hotel. The giant tiger was standing out between all the much smaller mammals and was on the receiving end of a lot of curious if not threatening looks.

"I don't like it", whispered Jasper, "they're all staring at us!"

"And now they'll stare even more", said Tony as he looked to the door.

The small but well-endowed figure of Kitty MacMahon walked in, dressed in red snow pants and a white cashmere pullover. When it had been relatively quiet in the room, now it was totally silent. After Kitty came the giant frame of Chief Bogo, all dressed in black. Someone finally wolf-whistled, some other yelled "Hey look, the beauty and the beast!" which produced quite a lot of laughter among the some twenty predators in the room.

"Grab something to eat and let's move out as quickly as possible", said Bogo through gritted teeth when arriving at the table.

All four hurried to follow Bogo's advice, he himself ate nothing as the small buffet had no prey food. With grumbling stomach, he walked out of the hotel.

"And now?" asked Kitty, closing the zipper on her fashionable snow jacket. Bogo was preferring enduring the cold over the indignation of wearing the baby elephants snowsuit.

"To the airport", he said and tried not to clatter with his teeth, "We need to charter an aircraft and get to Antarctica as quickly as possible!"

Nick was walking aimlessly through the gigantic holiday park. He was close to panic and for an experienced street fox and cop this meant something. He had no idea where Judy and Jack were, no idea what to do, no idea what would happen to Tracy and no idea was Viktor Maybach was scheming and if he was scheming something at all. Was it all in vain? Was the strange bunny just an eccentric billionaire with strange hobbies and a faible for beautiful girls?

In every major aisle of the hotel complex, there were information counters, but Nick had already found out by overhearing a conversation that the mammals working there (all predators, of course), were not allowed to give out any information about other guests.

He told himself that he needed to calm down. In one of the numerous great halls with corridors leading to a lot of different locations, he found a secluded booth where he could sit unseen and contemplate. From his seat, he could watch another information counter where a grumpy looking lion gave short answers to anyone asking something. He sighed. He would not get any information regarding Jack and Judy's whereabouts from this dude. He laid back in the comfortable seat, sighed and massaged his temples when he heard whispering from the booth next to him. The booths were separated by huge plants and Nick moved some leaves to get a look at what was happening over there.

Two young cubs were sitting next to each other, both wearing swimsuits, their wet fur dripping on the upholstery. Nick would have taken no second look, but the pair was quite unusual – a dog, a young Labrador and a cat, about a head smaller but very pretty, reminding Nick a bit of Kitty MacMahon.

"We must go back to the pool area", whispered the cat, "I bet my mom is already searching for me and when she finds out I'm with you, she's going ballistic!"

The black dog put his paw on hers, "And she really forbids you to see me again?", he asked with a sad voice.

"Yeah, she said that I should not 'mingle with dogs', that's what she said, she is so prejudiced… I don't understand. I told her how nice you are, but she is stubborn as an old goat."

The cat turned her voice up into a high pitched imitation of her mother's, "Oh, Malena, there are soooo many nice cats here, why don't you play with them? I don't want you to smell like a wet dog, the stench is in your clothes…"

"Well, I am wet, so I smell, I guess", whispered the dog with a melancholy voice.

"I love the smell", said the cat and leaned against his wet arm, "Lasse, I don't care what she said. I… I really like you…"

"Malena, I…", he started, but the cat's head crashed into his and they started kissing wildly, letting out moans and suppressed cries.

Nick dropped the leaves, smiling. Puppy love! The idea of mixed species relationships seem to spread like a 'flu virus. For a second he had forgot his troubles and remembered all the hassle he had to go through, when he and Judy started dating.

When he looked back at the info counter, he noted that the lion had been replaced by a slender arctic fox. She has a short snout, typical for her kind, and long furry ears, pierced with black metal rings. Her tail was enormous, a white fluffy bush going five inches above her head, waving slowly from left to right. She checked her looks in a mirror and stroke the fur on her right ear in the correct position.

Nick smiled. Maybe he could flirt some info out of her, she was a fox like him, wasn't she?

He left the booth and walked casually over to the information desk. As soon as she turned her head and saw him, her huge tail swished back and forth once, before stopping in its usual position. She had emerald green eyes just like himself. As soon as she noted that Nick came to her, she put on a dazzling smile.

"And who have we here?", she said in a rather low voice with a strange accent Nick could not identify. She took a look on the badge around his neck, "Welcome Mr Whitney, how may I help you?"

"Well, you could start with your name", said Nick with a huge smile.

The arctic vixen let out a soft giggle, "You are not wasting any time, do you? Well, my name is Hildur", she replied.

"And mine is Nick", he said, "Hildur, I have a big favor to ask…"

"Huuuh", she said, "I start to shiver… my shift ends at 8 pm!"

"No, really, I seem to have lost my friends, they told me their room number, but the room is all empty and I can't find them anywhere… I know you are not allowed to give out guest information, but… but it is really important…"

Nick did his best puppy eyes and she came closer to him, so close that their snouts were not even an inch apart.

"Ooh, poor baby", she purred, "you have lost your friends… females, I suppose?", she asked playfully.

"Actually, they are a married couple", Nick said.

"Ah, you are that kind of a fox…", she teased.

"Please…", Nick said as sad as possible.

She took her scanner and approached his badge. One beep and she looked on the monitor. Suddenly her smile vanished and she looked surprised.

"Wow, you live in the palace? It says here you are Viktor Maybach's honor guest!"

She looked at him full of admiration. "You really know him?"

Nick sighed, "Yeah, as a matter of fact we just had lunch together…", he tried to sound as casual about it as possible.

"REALLY?", she screamed out so loud, some mammals turned their heads, "Really?", she repeated, "I have not seen him and I work here for half a year! But Nick, why don't you just ask him?"

"He is very busy and I do not want to steal his time…"

She squinted her eyes and gave him a suspicious look. But then she smiled and Nick noted for the first time her extremely long fangs that she seemed to have sharpened additionally.

"Well…", she said, "maybe I can do something for you… as you are such a nice cute foxy…", her white paw moved over and started to stroke his, "what are your friends' names?"

"Judith and Jakob Kreuzberg", Nick said and spelled the names. Hildur typed on her keyboard and looked on the screen. All of a sudden, her warm smile vanished and she jerked her head around and stared at Nick full of scorn, so he moved instinctively away from her.

"Bunnies?", she hissed and her eyes shot dangerous beams at him, "Are you serious? You call vermin prey your friends? What kind of a fox are you?"

She had raised her voice and Nick noted that yet again some mammals turned their heads towards them. The last thing he wanted was any kind of attention. He tried to remain calm and gave her his cool smirk, trying to ignore her hateful grimace.

"They're not really friends, I want this Jakob bloke to sign a business contract with my company, so I have to act friendly, but as soon as this idiot has signed…", he smashed his paw on the table right next to Hildur's, "a large part of his fortune will land in my pocket…", he turned his head from left to right as if checking for someone overhearing their conversation, "but tell no one, will you?"

She stared at him for some seconds, before she pouted, "You're not lying to me?"

Nick shone his best smile on her, "Awww, you think I could ever outfox a fox?"

That old joke made her giggle, "Sorry for overreacting", she looked back on her screen, "Their room has been cancelled as they… hey, looks like they won a price on the ship or something and now they are in a luxury suite in the palace!"

"Really?", Nick said and his pulse accelerated. Judy and Jack were in the palace! How had they managed to achieve this?

"And you haven't seen them in the palace?", Hildur asked curiously.

"No, the palace is huge, I don't even know where the suites are… I live in a rather small room over there…", he replied absent-minded as the thoughts were running through his head.

Suddenly he felt her warm paw on his forearm, "And now, you sleazy fox, you have to tell me something…", her huge eyes had become warm and promising again. _Man, talk about quick female mood changes!_ Nick thought.

"Something about Maybach's plans…"

"Oh, I don't know if…", started Nick but Hildur quickly interrupted, "Oh, come on, every pred here talks about it… he wants to change the system, first here than everywhere! Is it true…", she looked at him so full of hope and anticipation that she reminded Nick of Keira on last year's Christmas when she was so desperately hoping of getting a smartwatch.

"Is it true…", she repeated breathlessly, "that we finally will be allowed to hunt and eat prey again?"


End file.
